The Truth Behind The Masks
by Safaria
Summary: Two years after Misty left, Link ends up in a new land he has to save while in search for her. But who are these strange girls that are helping him along the way?
1. Prolog

**_A/N: So here's the prolog to this new story, the draft of the first chapter is all done, I just need to type it up and correct it. I'll have that done at some point during the week. _**

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She had watched the whole exchanged between the masked Imp and the forest kid. When the kid had been knocked from his horse, she had wanted to rush out and help him, but she couldn't do a thing. The forest around her was only an illusion, showing her the path that the imp and the boy were taking. In silence she watched as the boy, Link, chased after the imp, trying to retrieve his stolen horse and Ocarina.

_"Now why would he still have the Ocarina of Time?"_ She asked herself as the illusion rippled and changed around her.

A smile graced her lips at the next image appeared before her. Link had been transformed into a Deku Scrub. He still wore a wrap of green cloth around his waist and his ridiculous green hat with boots and gloves. Her brown eyes saddened when she watched the fairy that was left behind by the imp try to catch up to her brother and the imp. Then Link and the fairy were stuck underneath the Clock Tower with only up to go. The illusion faded around her as she listened to the exchange above her between the fairy, Link, and another man.

When she heard the door of the Clock Tower close she stepped out from the darkness and moved up the ramp which brought her to the ground level of the tower.

"He is going to need your help, he can't do this all on his own." The man standing there said without looking at her.

"He hasn't needed any ones help for two years, not since he defeated Ganondorf." She commented, moving to stand next to the Happy Mask Salesman.

"Majora's Mask is its own evil, unless he has some aid there is no way he'll be able to figure everything out on his own. It's impossible for him to do everything in three days, and you're one of the three here that time will not affect."

"I can't do this on my own either, I'll need their help."

"And so you shall have it."

The Happy Mask Salesmen registered the small nod she gave. Closing his eyes he rubbed his hand over them before looking at the door of the Clock Tower. He gave a small smile as he watched her leave, hoping he hadn't made a mistake in asking for her help, praying they were both ready for this. After all, two years was a long time.


	2. A Cry For Help

**A/N: Ok so here's the first chapter to this story! And Celedeen Takarona, thanks for reviewing so fast :) And thanks for staying with my stories! This chapter took a little longer to get up because I think I was half asleep when I wrote it at first and I was so unhappy with it, so it took some time being home for spring break and all to fix it up, but here it is! Enjoy!**

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Link looked around at the new area he suddenly found himself in, blinking his eyes as they adjusted to the light. Once he could see again he was completely lost in confusion. At his back was a giant clock tower, with ramps leading up either side of it, small square pools of water in front of the ramps. The rest of the area was a large square with a set of stairs leading to some place on the very end of the right hand side, an arch way a little closer, a gate that lead out of the town straight ahead, and another arch way to the far left. There were small straw canopies dotted around the place, and in the very center of the square was a large structure that people were working on. What set Link off guard though was that the workers and the people walking around looked exactly like the people from Hyrule! 

"Where are we?" Link asked taking a few steps away from the doors of the tower.

"We're in Clock Town you moron." Tatl the fairy said hovering just above his head.

"Thank you for so much information, since I come here oh so often and everything." He said sarcastically, looking up at the fairy.

"Um, Link…." She said, pointing at something in front of them.

Link looked back down and saw a dog in front of him, teeth bared as he crouched down to pounce. The dog jumped, but something slammed into Link at that exact moment. He and what ever had hit him rolled to the side before he was hauled to his feet and pulled through the crowd towards the arch way on the right he had seen next to the stairs. Keeping his eyes on the ground so as not to trip, he was pulled up a long set of stairs and around a corner before he was allowed to stop and see what or who had just saved him trouble with the dog.

She stood a couple feet away from him, about a full inch shorter then what he stood at now, and even though she was a Deku Scrub, he had to admit she was pretty cute. She wore a flowered dress whose sleeves fell past her hands, the blue blossoms falling to the ground. She had happy brown eyes that seemed to be touched with just a bit of green. Her hair was green and leafy, and fell to her shoulders.

"That was a dumb move." She said shaking her head. "You should know dogs hate Deku Scrubs."

"Actually I'm not a Deku Scrub." Link blurted out. "An imp wearing a mask changed me into this."

"The imp." She said, her eyes darkening. "He's caused trouble for my home too. I came here to ask the towns Great Fairy for help since I don't know where my own went. You should come with me and ask her to change you back." She suggested.

When Link nodded she turned around and moved on through another arch that lead to the upper area of the square they had just been in. They moved up and around the clock tower on the board walk in a north archway, avoiding the dog completely. They entered into what Link thought looked like a park. To the right was another archway, next to that was a large structure that looked like a slide with a tree next to it. In front of them was a large gate that Link assumed lead outside the town. There was only a guard and a kid who was trying to take out a balloon with something he blew into, like a blow dart minus the darts.

"By the way, I'm Link, what's your name?" Link asked as the other Deku lead him up a path to their left and into a cave.

"Mikado." She replied, with what Link guessed was a smile the way her eyes lit up.

They moved into the cave and Mikado let out a cry of dismay as she ran to the pool that had tiny orange fairies floating around above the water. When Mikado and Link reached the pool the Great Fairy called out to them.

"Young ones! Please hear my plea! I have been broken and shattered to pieces by the masked skull kid. Please find the one stray fairy lost in town, and bring her to this fairy fountain."

"Argh!" Mikado said as she turned and stormed out of the cave. Link turned and followed after her as she retraced her steps all the way back to where Link had met the dog. She was careful to avoid it though and moved along the wall of the center town, up the stairs Link had seen before and around a corner.

"Mikado where are we going?" Link asked.

"Laundry Pool. It's a small calm area with a river, it helps me think." She said as they walked into the garden like area. "And you can call me Miki."

"Great." Link said and then looked past her to the river. "And that looks like the fairy we need."

Miki whirled around and saw the small orange fairy floating over the water. She let out a joyous cry and seemed to run down and hop across the water, grabbing the fairy.

"How did you do that?" Link asked as they raced back to the fairies fountain.

"Deku's can hop across water, but only so far. We can also burrow into pods and use the blossoms to hover short distances. If you turn sharply in a circle you can also use your edges as a weapon. We can use Deku nuts and as soon as you gain the ability to use magic you can blow bubbles and also use them to attack." She explained as they reached the fountain again.

As soon as they entered the fairy left Mikado's grasp and the Deku pushed Link forward as the Great Fairy with orange hair appeared before him and began to speak.

"Tatl, and you, young one of an altered shape…Thank you for returning my broken and shattered body to normal. I am the Great Fairy of Magic. I thought that masked child was helping me, and I grew careless. All I can offer you now is this: I shall grant you magic power as a sign of my gratitude. Please accept it!"

Link felt dizzy as the power washed over him, but when it was gone it was replaced by a feeling of new strength.

"The man who lives in the observatory outside of town may know of the skull kids whereabouts. But be careful! You must not underestimate that child's powers, kind young one. If ever you are returned to your former shape, come see me. I shall give you more help." Once she was done speaking the Great Fairy twirled around and vanished in a flash of light.

Link looked to Miki who pointed outside and followed her out. Miki stood staring at the boy who was trying to bust the balloon, Link staying quiet for a moment before he had to break the silence.

"Do you know how to get to the observatory?"

"Yep, there's an underground path that the kids use, but his gang keeps it blocked off, and only members can get in. Ready for a game?" She asked looking over to him, and continued when he nodded. "Then concentrate on using the magic you just got, blow a bubble, and pop that balloon."

Link did as he was told and he had to admit that blowing the bubble from his mouth/nose was a very odd feeling. When he released the bubble it flew and burst the balloon. The boy jumped and looked around to see who popped it, and then his eyes fell on Link.

"Are you the one who just popped that up there? Not bad for a Deku Scrub! We Bombers have a hideout that leads to the observatory outside town. You need a code to get in. Maybe I'll tell you what it is! But don't think you're getting it that easily! I can't just tell you what the code is…You'll have to past my test first. All right! Line up guys!" Four other boys ran to join their leader before the first kid continued. "If you can find all five of us by tomorrow morning, I'll teach you the code! Are you ready? Go!" And then all the kids scattered.

"There's one there and there." Miki said pointing to her right and left.

Link laughed and ran to catch the kids before returning to Miki. She grabbed his hand and pulled him through an archway entering into the east part of town. There were more buildings here, making it look like a more residential area. Miki pulled him up a set of stairs where one of the kids was waiting with a cucco. The kid jumped down, Link and Miki following close behind. They caught him and Miki pulled on Links hand, pointing up. There was another kid on the canopy of a building of what looked like an inn. They entered into the inn, moved through the reception area and ran up the stairs that were located right next to the main desk, and through a door at the very top which lead out onto the balcony the canopy was attached to. That kid also jumped down, but the two easily caught him.

"Only one left." Miki said laughing as she grabbed Link's hand and pulled him towards West Clock Town.

"How do you know where they would be hiding?" Link asked as they found the last kid.

"I come here a lot, I know where each kid hangs out, and if a Deku doesn't want to be found, then they won't be." She said, and then they caught the last kid, who walked with them back to North Clock Town.

"You're pretty good for a Deku Scrub!" The leader said. "If only you were human….Then I could give you an original Bombers Notebook and make you a member….What do you guys think?"

"No way! No Scrubs!" The other boys called.

"I guess not…Once, we let some kid who wasn't human join our gang, and, boy, did we ever regret it! Sorry! But I'll teach you the code, just like I promised. I can tell you only once, though, so pay close attention! Are you ready? The code is….." All the boys turned around, and on the back of their shirts were numbers, going from 3-2-5-4-1. "Three, two, five, four, one! The entrance to our hideout is in East Clock Town!" After they got the code, the boys dispersed, and the two Deku's walked towards East Clock Town.

"Those boys weren't too nice about us being Scrubs." Link commented.

"It's always been like that, humans think they're better then all the other races, and vice versa, that's why we all live apart." Miki answered, falling silent when they reached a path between two buildings that a kid was blocking.

"If you want to pass through here, you have to say the secret code!" The kid said.

"Three-two-five-four-one." Link said, and the kid's expression turned to one of shock.

"Umm….That's right. If you know the code, then you're a member, right? Ok, here you go!" And the kid moved aside for them to pass through. "There's a lot of cool stuff at that telescope guy's place! Oh, yeah…and, um…The Bombers Secret Society of Justice forever!" He finished saluting.

Link and Miki nodded their heads' as they moved down the dirt path, and then down a brick one as they entered the under ground hideout. They entered out onto a large platform, water moving down in front of them, to the left, and forward. Small platforms stood in the water ahead of them, and Miki hopped across the water to them, Link following after. When they reached the end of the room they turned left where the water was shallow. They ran along the water part, ignoring the stone path that ran along the back of the wall since there was a skaltulah hanging down half way. They turned right at the end and down stairs that lead into a large stone room with a ladder leading up, though a balloon was blocking the way.

Link took out the balloon and the Scrubs climbed up the ladder and ran down a tunnel. They ran through the darkness until they entered into a brightly lit room. There were gadgets all over the place and Link wanted to look at them, but Miki pulled him up the rainbow coloured stairs. As they reached the top of the stairs Link could hear bells tolling, and he realized it was already six in the evening. When they reached the top they walked to the telescope and a man dressed in blue and white robes turned to look at them.

"Well, well…strange looking children have joined me today…Are you new friends of the Bombers Gang?"

"Yes we are sir." Link answered politely.

"..Hmmm. Your manners seem much better than those of your mischievous friend from the other day. Hrnf, hrnf, hrnf! That ill-mannered troublemaker from the other day said he'd break my instruments….He said he'd steal my moons tear…There was no stopping him! Even now! Just watch him! He's probably causing trouble around Clock Tower. Will you gaze through the telescope?"

Link nodded his head and gazed through the telescope. He looked up to the Clock Tower, and sure enough, the imp was standing on top of it. He shook his head and then looked upwards, Link following his gaze to the moon. Something fell from the moons eye, landing just outside the observatory. Link turned back to the Imp, who patted his ass that was stuck out towards him, waggled it, and then jumped away. Link sighed and turned back to the observer.

"Well, did you find that troublemaker? And that loud noise...what was that? Perhaps another moons tear has fallen nearby…Go through that door and take a look around outside, you can keep it. But I wonder how that troublemaker got on top of the Clock Tower? The only way up there is through the Clock Door, and that opens only on the even of the carnival."

When the old man turned back to gaze out his telescope the Scrubs went out the door he had pointed to, and there, sitting not far away from the door, was another moons tear.

"We should go back to town before it gets much darker." Miki said as Link walked over and pocketed the moons tear, and nodded his head to her statement.

When they reached East Clock Town again Link looked around and suddenly realized something.

"Hey where are we going to stay the night? And food? And I need to go to the bathroom…"

"We can sneak into the Stock Pot Inn and grab some food from the kitchens, and they also have a bathroom. I also know the performers who are staying in the biggest room, we can sleep there." Miki answered with a laugh.

They moved down the steps to the lower level of the area and Miki showed Link where a Deku Flower was. One after the other they burrowed into the flower and hovered over to the canopy they had been on before. From there they entered the Stock Pot Inn and moved down the stairs. They turned left at the bottom and moved down the hall, Link stopping at the bathroom as Miki continued down to the kitchen. When Link entered the kitchen Miki had found some left over soup and bread.

"There was a hand in the toilet." Link said as she handed him one of the bowls.

"Uh huh." Miki said with an odd expression. "Did you give him some toilet paper?"

"There wasn't any."

"….Make sure you wash your hands before going to bed." Miki said before she started eating.

They washed their own dishes before they went back upstairs and down the hall to the last room. When they entered two guys waved to Miki as she made her way down to the last set of bunk beds on the right side of the room. Climbing to the top one, she settled down and called a sleepy good night to Link who was already fast asleep on the bottom bunk.

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Link awoke to the sound of tolling bells and the smell of breakfast. Opening his eyes he saw Miki at the foot of his bed with a tray of food. Sniffing deeply he sat up and started stuffing the food into his mouth/nose, not caring that it didn't taste the best.

As soon as he was done the two made their way outside, not even the slightest dismayed that it was raining. They moved to South Clock Town to stand in front of the Clock Tower. Link was very pleased to note that the dog wasn't around because of the rain. The two stood there, staring at the Clock Tower for a good half hour. They could see where they needed to go up, but they also knew that at their height they wouldn't be able to climb up to the door of the Clock Tower. Eventually Link got a kink in his neck and turned his head to the left, where he finally saw a large Deku flower.

"Hey, maybe we could use that to reach the Clock Door!" He said and ran over to it.

"Link wait!" Miki called, but it was too late.

"Wait! Wait! Hang on!" An angry voice called out. Link looked up to see a large Deku Scrub flying towards him. He reached the flower and dove in, resurfacing again once he had a hat on over the leaf propeller he used to fly in.

"This is my private property. Don't try using it when I'm not around!"

"We're sorry sir, he's new around here." Miki said coming up to stand next to Link. "How's everything going?"

"I've already sold out of my wares, and the carnival hasn't even begun." He answered smiling at Miki. "I'm thinking of closing up shop so I can buy a gift for my wife and return to her in my village! I've heard that a stone called the moons tear shines brighter than any other in the land! If you've got one Mikado I'd really like to get it from you. My wife would love it! If you give it to me, I'll give you my spot here….Deku flower included!"

"Actually, we do have one." Miki replied pulling out the moons tear from Links pocket.

"Ah! That stone!." He said jumping up and down. "You must hand it over to me! I'll give you this spot, yes?" When Miki agreed with a laugh and handed the stone over the other Scrub handed the deed to his spot over. "You really helped me out! Now I have the perfect souvenir for my wife! She hasn't set eyes on a jewel or strange, sparkling stone like this in a very long time. The title deed for this spot should be in high demand among the Deku Scrubs, but you already know that. If you don't need it anymore you could always sell it!" The Deku dove back into the flower and then popped out, flying away with all his stuff.

"Alright, well now we have a way to the door, now all we have to do is wait for the eve of the carnival when the door opens, which is tomorrow night." Miki said. "Now I have time to show you around town and how to really act like a Deku!"

They did the same thing as the night before as soon as the sun went down, grabbing a meal and then back to the bunks at the inn. Mikado was leaning over the edge of the top bunk, happily chatting away with Link about the days events, when something around his neck caught her eyes.

* * *

"Hey, what's that?" She asked pointing at it.

"Oh, this?" Link asked, lifting up the butterfly pendant. "Someone close to my heart gave it to me before she had to return home, that's why I'm out here, I'm looking for her."

"Aw, that's so cute." Miki said. "It's late though, we should get some sleep, big night tomorrow. The door opens at midnight. Good night!"

"Goodnight Mikado."

* * *

They had spent the day talking about everything, and now it was finally time. They stood in front of the door to the Clock Tower as it opened, fire works going up around them. Once it was finally open the two Scrubs ran up the steps to the top of the Clock Tower, where they met the imp. It was floating in the air above the center of the tower staring up at the moon. When it realized they were there it turned around, tossing the ocarina in the air with one hand.

"Sis!!!" A little purple fairy next to the skull kid called out when he saw Tatl.

"Ah! Tael! We've been looking for you two. Hey, skull kid, what if you gave that mask you're wearing back now?" Tatl said. "Hey, c'mon, are you listening?"

"Swamp. Mountain. Ocean. Canyon. Hurry…the four who are there…Bring them here…" Tael said.

"Don't speak out of line! Stupid fairy!!!" The skull kid said, hitting the purple fairy out of the way.

"Nooo!" Tatl cried, jingling in her anger. "What are you doing to my brother? Skull kid, do you still think you're our friend after that?!!?"

"…Well, whatever." The skull kid said. "Even if they were to come now, they wouldn't be able to handle me…Hee, hee. Just look above you..If it's something that can be stopped, then just try to stop it!" The skull kid lifted his arms to the moon and called out with his power, and the moon began to fall towards them.

Link looked up, took a deep breath, and shot a bubble at the skull kid. It hit it and knocked it back, causing it to drop the ocarina. Link ran over and picked it up, suddenly remembering the day he left his good friend Zelda.

_"You are already leaving this land of Hyrule, aren't you?" Zelda asked before she turned to face him. "Even though it was only a short time, I feel like I've known you forever. I'll never forget the days we spent together in Hyrule. And I believe in my heart that a day will come when I shall meet you again. Until that day comes, please…take this…" And she held out the Ocarina of Time to him. "I am praying…I am praying that your journey be a safe one. If something should happen to you, remember this song…" And then she had taught him the Song of Time. _

Link was roughly bounced on the head by Tatl who shrieked at him.

"Snap out of it! What are you doing lost in memories?!? Get yourself together! Getting that old ocarina back isn't going to help us!!! Somebody! Anybody!!! Goddess of Time, help us please! We need more time!"

Link chuckled some and pulled out his ocarina, but it turned into a great set of pipes.

"Huh? When did you get that instrument?!?" Tatl croaked.

Link ignored her though and played the Song of Time. Miki grabbed onto Link, and the two Scrubs and the fairy seemed to be pulled back into a tunnel of light with the sound of a ticking clock all around them. When they opened their eyes they were standing in front of the Clock Tower, people walking around and working on the tall festival tower that was only just starting to be built.

"W-what just happened?!" The fairy demanded as she flew in front of Link's face. "Everything has…started over…wha….what are you anyway? That song you played…That instrument…That instrument!!! Wait! That's it! Your instrument!!! The mask salesman said that if you got back the precious thing that was stolen from you, he could return you to normal! Did you completely forget or what?"

"That's right!" Link said and turned and ran inside the bottom of the Clock Tower, neither of them noticing Mikado.

"Were you able to recover your precious item from the imp?" The salesman asked as Link came up to him, and Link nodded.

"Oh! Oh! Ohhh!!!" The guy yelled shaking Link violently by the shoulders. "You got it! You got it! You got it! You got it!!!" Suddenly the guy was seated at a large organ, still speaking. "Then listen to me. Please play this song that I am about to perform and remember it well…" The guy played a song and Link listened carefully, playing the song back when the guy was done.

Link doubled over and felt a tingling sensation all down his body. A mask dropped at his feet, and he was relieved to see that he was back to normal.

"This is a melody that heals evil magic and troubled spirits, turning them into masks. I am sure it will be of assistance to you in the future. Ah, yes, I give you this mask in commemoration of this day. Fear not, for the magic has been sealed inside the mask. When you wear it, you will transform into the shape you just were. When you remove it, you will return to normal."

"Thanks." Link said and pocketed the mask.

"Now, I have fulfilled my promise to you…" The guy continued. "So please, give me that which you promised me…"

Link looked at the guy and then looked to the ground, ashamed that he hadn't been able to fulfill his side of the bargain.

"Don't tell me…My mask….You did…get it back…" The guy suddenly grew livid, picked Link up by the neck, and shook him. "What have you done to me!!!" and just as suddenly dropped him. "If you leave my mask out there, something terrible will happen!" He launched into the story of how dangerous the mask was to the point where it could destroy the whole world and every other world that existed.

"…But I feel it. I went to great lengths to get that legendary mask. When I finally had it…I could sense the doom of a dark omen brewing. It was that unwelcome feeling that makes your hair stand on end. And now…that imp has it…I am begging you! You must get that mask back quickly or something horrible will happen! I'm begging you! I'm begging you! You must do it!"

"Fine!" Link said to interrupt him.

"Really? You'll do it for me? I was certain you would tell me that. You'll be fine. Surely you can do it. Believe in your strength…Believe…"

Shaking his head Link turned and made his way towards the door, mumbling under his breath. "I'm not doing it for you, if you can destroy every world, Misty is in danger too."

He pushed open the doors of the Clock Tower and let them slam behind him, and he moved to continue but Tatl stopped him before he could go much further.

"That mask…the skull kid uses the power of that mask to do those horrible things. Well…..whatever it takes, we've got to do something about it….The swamp, mountain, ocean and canyon that Tael was trying to tell us about…I bet he was referring to the four areas just outside town. There's one in each compass direction. But what do you suppose he meant by the four who are there? I have no idea. He always skips important stuff. I guess we should just go and find out…"

"Link?"

Link jumped and turned around to see Mikado standing near the doors to the clock tower.

"Mikado….you know who I am?" He asked walking over to her.

"I grabbed onto you when you were pulled back in time."

"Oh, so what can I do for you?"

"The swamp has been poisoned, that's why I came here, to look for help." Miki said as her eyes glistened with unshed tears. "Link, you're a human now with the power to turn yourself into a Deku Scrub, please, you have to help me, you have to save my home!"


	3. The Deku and the Monkey

**_A/N:_** Ok so the internet in my residence has been down for awhile and I dont have time to keep coming to the library to work on this story, not to mention the battery in my laptop sucks all so I really have limited time. I'll try to have the next chapter written this week if I dont have too much work past Monday(I have a test then) but my family and boyfriendis coming down for Easter so I wont have time to work on anything this weekend. I want to thank everone who went from my other story to this one, it means a lot you're sticking with it, and I know I'm having a lot of fun writing it, I hope you all enjoy reading it!

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Link looked down at the little Deku Scrub that stood before the Clock Tower silently crying. She was so small but had such a great determination to help her people, just like Misty had to save Hyrule. Just thinking along those lines sent a need through his mind to help her, and why shouldn't he? He was still the Hero of Time after all, and Tatl did just finish saying that they should go to the Swamp anyway.

"Of course I'll help you, we can figure out what's poisoning the swamp together." He said in a gentle voice.

"Oh thank you Link." Mikado said, her eyes brightening again. "But before we do anything else, you should go see the Great Fairy here again, remember how she asked should you ever return to your normal form to go see her?"

"Yeah, but we went back in time, she'll be broken again." Tatl cut in.

"That's no problem, I can go pick up the piece of her that's in the Landry Pool." Miki said and hurried off.

"Do we really have to help her?" Tatl whined.

"She helped me all through those three days and never said anything about it, it's the least we can do. And besides, you just said we should go check that area out and what better way to explore the swamp then with someone who lives there?" Link reminded her.

"True, but she's so small and doesn't look much like a fighter."

"It doesn't matter what she looks like, appearance isn't everything. I've learned that people can always surprise with how much they are capable of doing, after all, she did come all the way here from the swamp on her own, that has to count for something."

"True…" Tatl finally said.

The two fell silent as they waited for Mikado, and when she finally came back with the fairy clamped between her hands, the three made their way to North Clock Town.

When they entered into the fairy's' cave Miki again let the fairy go and then stepped back to allow Link to talk to her.

"Oh, Tatl, and you, kind young one!" The Great Fairy started. "Thank you for returning my broken and shattered body to normal. Oh kind young one. Scattered throughout the four temples of this land are broken stray fairies like me. Please find a way to save them and return them to their fountains. Surely, they will add to your strength. Allow me to grant you something good so that the stray fairies will not fear you." The Great Fairy handed Link a mask, which was fashioned to look exactly like the face and hair of the Great Fairy. "Come see me whenever your quest has made you weary." She finished and then disappeared.

"That must be why my own Great Fairy would not answer my calls, her body has been broken just as this one has." Miki said from behind Link.

"Don't worry," Link said turning around to face her. "We'll find all the Great Fairy pieces in the Temple at the swamp; you just need to lead us to the temple."

Miki looked slightly uncomfortable for a moment but then nodded her head. She turned around and moved out of the cave, Link following behind. They moved back through to South Clock Town and towards the gate that lead out of the town, but the Guard there stopped Link.

"Stop right there! Have you some errand in the swamp? It is dangerous outside the town walls, so I cannot allow a child like you to….A sword?" The guard asked, looking over Link's shoulder. "My apologies sir. It was wrong of me to treat you like a child. The Southern Swamp at Woodfall lies in this direction. Be careful."

"That was odd, why didn't he stop you too?" Link asked as they moved through the gate.

"Think about it Link, I'm a Deku Scrub, I live in the Swamp I know my way around there and how to avoid the dangers. I'm not a citizen of this town; he couldn't keep me there even if he had wanted to unless I had committed a crime." Miki commented as they stepped outside the walls.

They had stepped out onto a huge wooden platform that spanned out from the gate. Tall wooden posts stood in two lines leading from the platform to a tunnel that was also made from wood, and past that, a forest with a path leading into it. Bare trees spotted the grassy area here and there, the observatory to the far left, against a rock wall. As they moved towards the swamp, Link could see two of the other areas in the distance, one looking like a beach, the other devoted of any life at all with tall stone buildings.

As they came in line with one of the large trees next to the beginning of the path, Tatl stopped and flew over to the base of it.

"Oh! I remember this!" She said looking at a drawing of the Skull Kid and the two fairies. "Tael and I drew this with the Skull Kid when we first met him….He told us that he had been fighting with his friends and that they had left him all alone…" Tatl fell silent lost in memories for a moment before she spoke again in a quiet voice. "I'm sure it was because he was always playing tricks, so nobody wanted to play with him. But to do what he did just because of that…And once he got his power…" She fell silent and hid in Link's hat, which was the cue that they should move on.

They followed the path through the trees and it winded up into a larger area. Two other paths broke away from the one they were on, one with trees still lining it down to their left, the other defined by rock walls, leading ahead of them. There were a couple of small blob like monsters around here, and also a large black tree that looked dead, bad bats flying around the bare branches. The only other being in the area was a man dressed all in green with red shorts that hovered well above the ground by a large red balloon, and he seemed to be writing something on a piece of paper. Miki lead them down the path that was lined with the rock walls, and as Link passed the black tree, he looked up at it and shivered.

The path they had chosen went on for a couple moments before they turned a corner, and it opened up into a large area. The grass beneath their shoes ran for a couple more feet before it was swallowed by dark, cloudy looking water. The water was still all the way to the rock wall that stood a good couple feet from the grass, and then branched out to the left and right. To the left Link could see it trailed along and around another corner, strange plants and flowers surrounding the water, lily pads also floating calmly on top of the surface. To the right the water trailed through a cave in the rock, but the view was blocked by a giant octork. At the edge of the water was a wooden walkway that lead to a ladder, leading up to a wooden building, a Deku Scrub seller on the corner looking around with a board expression.

"Why don't we just hop down along the lily pads to get to the temple?" Link asked as they walked across the walkway.

"There's another octork that blocks the way we need to go, if we take the swamp boat tour though the boat will kill the octork and then we can continue on our way." Miki replied as she climbed up the ladder and entered the building.

The building itself was fairly simple, only a couple pictures decorated the walls. There was a large open counter to the very far left where a guy was standing, looking at a clock on the wall. In front of them was a more enclosed window, with a small note sitting on the counter.

"Old Koume's Boat Cruise Ticket office closed." Miki read. "Please inquire at the Magic Hags Potion shop near the edge of the swamp." Miki said as she sighed and looked to Link. "Apparently we will have to hop across some lily pads a short ways, the potion shop isn't that far from here, just around the first bend."

The two moved out of the building and back down the ladder, Miki moving to the first lily pad as she waited for Link to transform back into a scrub. Once he was ready they hoped one after another across a line of lily pads as they moved deeper into the swamp, though as she said, it wasn't far. Just after they passed a couple large plants, a sign on the edge of some solid ground declared that the potion shop was that way. Once they were on the ground they moved side by side down the path that twisted and turned a couple times and then entered into another large circular area. There was a small waterfall that fell to the far right of them, so that the center of the area was covered by a small pond. In the center of the pond was a large barge that surrounded the trunk of a tree that held another platform at its top which was the dry land for the house that seated on top, which, to Link, looked like a giant tea pot. Link changed back to a human on the advice of Miki and moved up the ladder and entered into the house.

The shop was moderately dark and clouds of smoke floated around the ceiling. There were assorted jars lining the walls of the small shop, some empty, and some holding other ingredients and even potions. At the far end there was a counter which also held three different kinds of potions. Sitting behind the counter was the twin witch, and it took Link a good moment to calm his jumpy nerves and to go over and talk to her, even though she looked exactly like one of the witches he and Misty had fought before.

"Are you by chance a boat cruise customer?" She asked and continued when he nodded. "How unfortunate Koume has gone into the woods out back looking for mushrooms…..Hmmm….Now that I think about it, she's a bit late coming back! Say, could you go find her for me?"

"Sure," Link said, "But I don't even know where to start looking for her in those woods."

"Hmmm, yes. It's easy getting lost in those woods. Ask the monkeys that live there."

Miki and Link gave the old hag a small wave and then moved back outside, going down the ladder and sloshing their way through the water to get to the woods. As soon as they entered there was a small monkey there, and Link asked if it had seen a witch, though why he was talking to a monkey he didn't know.

"Hmmm, follow me." The monkey replied, and then hoped off towards the left through a small path.

Link didn't even have time to ask Miki if all the monkeys talked around here because she had run off after him. They followed the animal through the woods, which was very bland looking, only trees and a couple shrubs here and there. When they got deeper though, they ran into turtles which would sink into their shells and fly at them, spikes lining their shells. At one of those points Link picked Miki up and carried her on his back, not wanting the small little wooden girl to get caught by one of the spikes. Just when Link was starting to wonder if monkey fur could be worn, they came through one of the paths and the witch was laying facedown on the ground, two other monkeys next to her. When Link and Miki approached the Monkeys ran off, and the witch looked up at them.

"Ohh! Owow-ow! Help meeee! I was just busy minding my own business, picking mushrooms when….BAM! I got hit from behind! That pesky Skull Kid! Did he think an old hag wouldn't recognize him if he hid his face! Oh, ow! To think he's that powerful….and now I can't even move! You! Don't you have anything that gives you energy?" But both of them shook their heads no. "Ah! What is this!? You're no help…I say, you're not at all what you make yourself out to be!" She said and then allowed her head to fall back to the ground.

"Link we should go back and see her sister, it is a potion shop, I'm sure that she has something there to help her out." Miki, who was still on Link's back, whispered in his ear.

Link nodded his head in agreement and then looked around the forest, having no clue as to which way they had come in. Shrugging his shoulders, he guessed that these woods were exactly the same as the Lost Woods back home, chose a path, entered it, and ended back out in the main area with the potion shop. He walked over to the ladder and set Miki back on her feet and the two climbed up, entering into the potion shop and told the other witch the fate that had befallen her sister.

"EEEHH?" She shrieked. "What's that?!? The Skull Kid got to Koume??? That's ridiculous….If it's just the Skull Kid, then what harm could he possibly do?"

"He found a powerful mask and took it from a stranger which in return, gave him above normal powers, and he did after all sneak up behind her." Miki said.

"Oh!! Well, if that's true, then take this potion to her…This isn't good…" She handed Link a bottle which held a medium shade of red liquid. "Quick! Take that potion to her!"

The two left the potion shop and entered the woods again, and thankfully, the money was there waiting for them. Link didn't even bother to wait until they got deeper into the forest, he picked Miki up on his back right away, and she seemed to have fun, laughing all the way through as they followed the monkey, Tatl sitting on his head under his hat, taking a small snooze. When they came upon the hag again he let Miki down and the witch looked up at them again, sniffing in disdain.

"Ow-ow-yeow! Don't you feel obligated to help a sorry old hag when you see one?"

Link shook his head as he reached into his pocket and pulled out the bottle of red potion and held it out to her.

"Ah! That colour! That smell…That's defiantly Kotakes." She said as she sat up and grabbed the bottle from Link. She turned sideways to them and looked at the bottle, back up at them, and then finally drank the whole potion and handed the bottle back to Link. "Ooh! Feel the energy flow! Koume is revived!!!" There was a puff of smoke and when it cleared the witch was on her broom, hovering just above the ground. "You saved me! I'm the swamp tour guide. I run the boat cruise, so come by if you want a free ride." She gave a small cackle and then flew away on her broom, back to the boat cruise building.

"That….felt odd." Link said as Miki jumped back up on his back.

"Why?" She asked, gently swinging her feet back and forth as he walked.

"Because back where I'm from, there were two evil witches who looked exactly like them and myself and my friend had to kill them in order to revive the Spirit Sage."

"Ah, makes sense." Miki replied.

Link was just about to ask her if Termina had sages as they came out of the woods, when three monkeys jumped down and ran towards them, blocking their path.

"You have strange power, no?" The leader of the monkeys asked. "Me been watching you! Lately, this swamp, filled with poison water. Temple above waterfall strange….Brother go to temple. But brother no able to find temple entrance. Temple for Deku only. Brother captured by Deku. Now in palace. Help!" The monkeys gave a small cry and then ran off, heading towards the main area of the swamp again.

"Talking monkeys…that's pretty cool." Link laughed as he sloshed through the pond water, heading towards the main swamp also.

"We should go to the palace and see what the captured monkey has to say; maybe he can give us more information as to why the swamp has been poisoned, and about the temple." Miki said resting her head on his shoulder as he walked down the path.

"Alright, I would feel bad if we didn't anyway. If there's something I can do to help the poor guy out I will. So we have to take the boat cruise to get there right?"

"Yep." Miki said, and stepped down from his back once they had reached the water.

Link changed back into a Deku and the two hopped across the lily pads back to the boat cruise building, and once they were up the ladder, Link removed the mask again.

"You know, if I keep having to do that, I'm going to end up getting a headache." He joked as they walked into the building, Miki laughing at him.

The old hag greeted them and handed them a pictograph, saying that there was a special on about winning prizes for pictures of the swamp. Link just tucked it away as they got on the boat under the building and started the cruise, knowing that they wouldn't have time for such things once they got going. As they moved further into the swamp the water turned to a dangerous looking purple colour, and Link looked around at the surroundings. The plants and flowers looked very exotic, but they also looked sick from the poison. He could only imagine how beautiful the place was before the water had been poisoned, and he realized now why Miki was so upset, there was actually a lot of damage that had been done. They rounded a bend and killed an octork, and as they passed under a small cave, water splashed down on them.

"Argh." Link said looking down at his wet clothes. "I'm contagious now; I'm going to get sick from this water."

"Link, we live right next to the water, more of us have touched the water. As long as it's not the dark purple stuff you'll be fine." Miki said laughing.

They turned around another bend and a wall of colourful wood along the stone wall caught his eye. There was a small opening in the center, and a monkey was jumping around in front of it. The boat moved towards a dock that was connected to the land with the opening. The two got off, and Link again put on the mask so that he was a scrub. As they neared, the monkey ran inside, and the two followed and entered into the court of the Deku Palace.

The walls that protected the palace were just as colourful as the ones outside, mostly reds running through the whole walls. It was a square structure with the door across from them, two guards blocking the entrance. The palace was surrounded by a large moat of water, with long blocks of wood leading to the opening. Lily pads moved from the blocks around to both sides of the structure, and to their right was a small ledge just out of the water, with a flower that lead to a cave opening through the rock.

Link and Miki moved slowly across the blocks so as not make the guards think that they were up to something, and when they reached them Miki gave a small wave, but the guards stood upright and spoke with an authoritive voice.

"This is the palace of the Deku Kingdom. Only those on official business may enter!" The guard said. "…But you may enter to see the public humiliation of the foolish monkey who angered our king. Follow this hall straight to the Royal Chamber. Do not enter any other areas whatsoever!" He said and stepped aside.

"I don't like the sounds of the monkeys' fate." Miki commented as they walked down the hall. As they passed two other entrances she looked down the corridor to see that they lead into courtyards.

"Guess we'll have to find a way to rescue the poor guy." Link said as they entered into the Royal Chamber.

The chamber was a circular form, with a couple of decorations. Different leaves and other plants ran along the walls and along the floor. In the center was a pit, in which a large fire roared. To their left was an area that was raised and wooden bars ran around it, which was where the monkey in question was tied to a post. Right across the fire from them stood another raised platform. Palm fronds lined the wall behind it and large potted plants stood on the ends. This was also where the throne was, and the king seemed to be dancing on top of it.

Link snorted trying to keep his laughter in as they moved around the fire, which earned him an elbow in the ribs from Miki. He couldn't help it though, the king looked ridiculous. He was the roundest Deku he had ever seen, and he wore a hat that was the colours of a tree in fall on his head that was about the same size of him. He had a leafy moustache and beard, held a sceptre in one hand and had long vines hanging down from his arms. What really tickled Link's funny bone though, was that he had a leaf covering himself between his legs.

They climbed up the small ramp to stand in front of the Deku King, and he looked down at Link, seeming to ignore Miki, who stood behind Link. Being this close Link was able to see that the king wasn't dancing on his throne, he was hoping mad.

"I haven't seen your face around here before. Are you visiting?" The king asked, and Link nodded his head. "Usually I don't allow the likes of you in my Royal Chamber, but today is different! We're about to punish the foolish monkey who kidnapped the Deku Princess! He has insulted the Royal Family. I'll show him what happens when you do that! That foolish monkey is up in that cage. Take a good look at his face!"

Miki gave her apologies for the missing princess and shoved Link past the guards that stood near the king to the cage where the monkey was being kept. When the monkey saw the two Deku's staring at him, he began struggling against his bonds and yelled out at them.

"They keep saying that I kidnapped her. No matter how many times they say it, it's not going to bring the princess back! If they're not careful, the princess will fall victim to a monster! Please, believe my words…."

"We need to be able to speak with him more privately." Miki whispered to Link as a guard ushered them off the platform and back towards the hallway that lead out.

Before Link could respond to her though, they moved back out into the hall and the same monkey from before dropped down in front of them.

"Was my brother all right? Did you see entrance to cage? We know secret route there. Enter secret route from outer garden entrance. But entrance in tall place. No can reach it. Need bean from bean seller. Live beneath palace garden. Mmm….Understand my meaning?" Link smiled and nodded his head. "Oh! You smart. Plant bean in soft place by outer garden. You figure out rest. Hurry. Help brother." The monkey said and gave one last pleading look before he turned around and left.

"Which side would the outer garden entrance be on?" Link asked looking at Miki.

"Uh….it would be on our current left." She said pointing.

"Great, because that should be the side that the bean seller lives in the ground."

"How do you figure that?"

"I don't know, you would think that he would live on the same side as that soft patch sine he would know that someone would be looking for a bean to put there."

"That's……really dumb logic….and at the same time, really smart."

"I thought it was pretty good." Link said smiling and then moved towards the entrance to the garden.

"Uh Link, there's going to be a lot of guards in there." She reminded him as she followed.

"There were a lot of guards in the palace back home, never stopped me from making it into the main courtyard before." He said with a grin.

They entered into the gardens and came to a somewhat tall wooden wall. They moved around it and had to walk for a bit before they finally came to where the boards ended and Link peeked around the corner. There was a boulder in the center of the small opening and another set of boards to the left of it, meaning they would have to go down and then to the right. They waited until the guard moved around the boulder and then dashed down and to the left, around another boulder just as a guard passed by, up to where a large box was, and danced around it to avoid being seen by yet another guard. They moved into the second part of the garden and moved silently up the side of more boards. Around the corner was another boulder, and Link took the chance and ran, pulling Miki behind him. They moved downward and Miki caught a glimpse of the guard behind them before Link pulled her upwards, around another set of boards, and then down a hole in the ground.

The hole they had fallen into wasn't very big. Up ahead some ways was a small pond of fresh water, and to their left was a path that lead upwards. At the top they found the home of the bean seller. It really wasn't much; he had some pots on the opposite side of them lined against the wall, a fire that burned merrily in front of him and then the rug he sat on. The bean seller himself was also very simple. He was bald, over weight, wore no shirt, had a small tattoo on his left arm which just looked like lines, had purple pants and purple slippers on his feet, and the bag of beans that he was eating.

"Why are you eating the magic beans?" Miki asked in a way of a greeting.

"Well….chomp, chomp….You're the first customers I've had in a looooong time! Do you need any magic beans? They sprout leaves as soon as you water them. That they do, they do. Mmmm, I'll give you one free sample, so try planting it in some soft soil. You can always buy more." He gave them a magic bean and Link pocketed it. "You can plant 'em wherever you want, but if you don't water 'em, their leaves wont grow."

Miki thanked the bean seller for giving them a magic bean as Link walked back down the path and went to the pond. He bottled some of the fresh water and then turned back to meet Miki just outside the hole.

"Now we have to go all through that again without the guards seeing us." She said a little dismayed.

"Not really." Link said.

Miki looked at him with a curious expression but he just smiled and walked back down the path they had travelled on. Miki followed him a short ways before she heard a cry go up, and she realized they had been discovered. Next thing she knew the guards had thrown them out of the palace, right onto the blocks of wood that served as a bridge.

"What was that about?" She asked Link as they picked themselves up.

"Well at least we didn't have to walk all the way back."

Miki laughed and shook her head as she began to hop along the lily pads towards the side of the palace, Link following behind her, grinning as best he could as a Deku, which just meant he had a mischievous light in his eyes. They found solid ground at the end of the line of lily pads, and looking up they could see the entrance the monkey had described. Finding the soft patch of dirt, Link planted the seed which sprouted small leaves right away. Pouring the water onto it, they watched as the leaves suddenly exploded up and out, making a hover plant with room enough for the two of them to stand on. They stepped off the plant and entered into a small wooden corridor, and after two turns, they moved out onto a platform over the gardens.

There was a platform with a deku flower moving back and forth in front of them, and then a little further was a sentry tower with a deku on it. Link looked at Miki who looked uncomfortable again, but she nodded her head and took the lead. She burrowed into the flower that had been in front of them, and shot out; carefully guiding the flowers she was using to hover over the moving platform. When she was sure that she was just above it, she pulled on the flower and they folded. Landing on the platform she stood to face the guard as she drew nearer to him. Just as he saw her and prepared to shoot a deku nut at her, she took a deep breath and shot a bubble, killing him. She burrowed into the flower and moved to the tower the deku had been on, dropping down. Once she was there Link followed after her, going through the first garden. They landed on another platform and then ran across a bridge that was suspended over the hallway they had been in before. Upon entering into the right garden, it was pretty much the same thing as before. Miki would have to take out the sentries and then move on ahead, Link following after her. The last platform in the final garden bore them up to another platform which lead into the monkeys room.

They dropped down silently onto the floor of the prison, watching the guards and king outside in case one of them looked over. When they reached the monkey, he was still yelling out at them every now and then.

"Why won't they believe what I say?...Fine! I get it! Then I shall say nothing more to you! Punish me or do whatever else you might!" He shouted out and then turned his head around and spotted the two scrubs.

"Oh! You…..How did you get in here?" He whispered.

"We found a secret path in." Link said.

"Shhh! If they see you, they'll capture you!" The monkey whispered back.

"You're brothers sent us to help you." Miki said quietly.

"What? My brothers asked for your help? Ugh….I'm terribly sorry….Just try to cut my rope, we'll talk after that!"

Both Link and Miki tried to jump and twirl around to cut the rope, but they weren't tall enough to reach, and before they could try using bubbles, the monkey started speaking again.

"Hmm….No good after all! Wait…You don't happen to have something that can make a lot of noise….like a loud instrument with sound that carries a long way? If you have one, show it to me!"

Link looked at Miki for a moment before he pulled out his pipes, which seemed to greatly please the monkey.

"Oh! You have them! You do! Just like the princess….Deku pipes! Those will work great!!! By the way….who are you?"

Link tipped over and fell to the ground, unable to keep his balance as he silently laughed at the pointless question. His pipes hit the ground causing a _thud_ and the Deku King looked over towards the cage, and Link quickly got to his feet.

"Whoa! That's not important now…Just listen to me! I was trying to find out about the poison in the swamp, so I went to Woodfall Temple above the waterfall. But the temple had become a monsters lair, and the princess was captured by the monster…..since the Deku King thinks I kidnapped the princess, he wont listen to a word I say. Now the princess is in trouble, so I must somehow hurry to the temple and save her! Do you understand my plight?" Both Deku's nodded their heads and he continued. "So then, that means…..You will go in my place and save the princess!" This time only Miki nodded her head, Link simply groaned. "Ok, now I'll teach you the melody that opens the temple. The princess taught it to me! We can't let them hear us, so I'll sing it softly."

The monkey quietly sang out the notes to the song that he had been talking about, and then Link repeated the notes to the Sonata of Awakening, but unfortunately, his pipes were not quiet, and everyone in the room turned to face the cage.

"Everyone did you hear that?" The Deku King said, and that's when the three inside the cage realized they had been found out. "This melody, which only the Deku Royal Family knows…It proves the foolish monkey deceived the princess so he could enter the temple! Everyone! Let the monkey's punishment commence!"

The guards entered into the cage and divided themselves up into pairs. Two grabbed Link, two grabbed Miki, and then the other two grabbed the monkeys' pole. The monkey was pulled towards the king as the other two were pulled towards the door, and the monkey gave one last call.

"You'd better take the shortcut the Deku people use to get to Woodfall Temple. But you must hurry! If you don't, I will be punished by the Deku King!"

The two scrubs were again thrown out the door, having to pick themselves back up for the second time that morning. They weren't all that phased though, they had wanted to go outside anyway, this was just one way that they didn't have to walk. Miki turned around and moved across the lily pads, grabbing onto the small ledge that they had seen before, Link right on her heels. They burrowed into the flower that was there one after the other and then shot up to grab onto the ledge of the cave that lead through the cliff. Walking through it they found themselves back in the main area of the swamp, except this time they were on top of a giant orange coloured flower that was the same height as the top of the walls of the palace. There were other such flowers that lead to a large outcropping of stone that fell into the water, right next to it another flower, and from there another leading to the edge of the cliff of the water fall. Link moved to go burrow into the flower, but Miki grabbed his arm to stop him.

"Wow there, you should look a little more before you leap." She said and pointed up.

Link looked up and sure enough there were two oversized dragonflies buzzing around. They were teal in colour except for red stomachs, and it looked as if electricity coursed over their whole bodies. Link watched as Miki walked to the edge of the flower and waited until the Dragonfly came close enough to her, and then killed it by shooting out a bubble. She stood there and waited until the last dragonfly came over, and she took that one out also. She moved over to the flower and moved from flower to flower to the rock to the flower and then to the ledge that hugged the waterfall. Once Link was beside her she moved up the path and then into another flower, to hover over the large gap in the path, the poisonous water so many feet below. Once both of them were on the end of the path, they moved up it and entered through a tunnel that lead them to Woodfall.

The area was just a huge circle, a lake of the purple water. There were tall grasses and lily pads dotted over the surface, large tree stumps of all different sizes were placed around with bridges connecting some of them so that a complete circle of the lake was made. Directly across from them was a tall structure with some sort of small dais on it and a couple of pots. In the very center were two lone trees, somehow still living even in the poison. Monsters dotted the area here and there, mostly guarding the bridges so it would make passing a little annoying.

"Where the hell is the temple?" Link asked looking around.

"Do you really think that they're just going to leave it in the open if you need a song to open it?" Miki asked as she hoped to a lily pad and then to a stump.

"Well yeah, if you need a song to get into it then you shouldn't have to hide it." Link retorted as Miki killed a beetle looking monster by shooting a bubble at it, and then a Deku Scrub who was guarding the flower they needed.

They flew from that flower onto another stump, taking out the deku with a nut before they dropped down. There was another of the beetle like things and Link was the one who took care of it, and then another Deku. They took the flower that they had just gained access too and used it to get to the structure. When they landed on it they looked at the dais that was there, and Link smiled as he saw the picture of the Deku Scrub painted on it.

"Play the Sonata of Awakening on it." Miki said with a wink.

Link stood up on the platform and played the song that had caused so much trouble so far, and as the last of the notes echoed around the cliff surrounding the lake, the ground began to violently tremble. Link looked around in disbelief, and then ahead of him as the water began to rise upwards and washed out in all directions. The water came so high that their feet were soaked, but he grinned when he saw the stone building rise from the water. As the rest of the poison water ran off of it, the ground started to return to normal, and Miki looked to Link.

"This, is Woodfall Temple."


	4. Woodfall

_A/N:_ Hey guys, sorry it took me so much longer to get this chapter done, life has been crazy and my easter weekend plans changed and I ended up going home instead, and when I got back, low and behold, my profs decided to tell me that I had both my langauge orals this week. Anyway I wrote a little bit differently this time, let me know what you think, what you liked and didnt like, imput helps a lot. Thanks for the review, and unfortunatly, the next update will only be on May 1st because I only have three more days of class left and then I hit exams and the move back home for the summer. Thanks to you all for your support, and I hope you like this chapter!

"Link! Look! A fairy!" Was the first thing shrieked into Links ear when the two Deku's had walked into the temple.

Link looked at Miki with a grimace as he pulled off the Deku mask, hoping she wouldn't do that every time they found a fairy. Link put on the Great Fairies Mask, its hair glowing pink, and the stray fairy flew over to him, hiding in one of his pockets.

"That hair is still glowing." Tatl commented. "There must still be another fairy around here."

Link finally looked around the room now that he had the chance. It appeared rectangular, large trees cutting through the room, some going straight from the ceiling to the ground, others cutting off midway with flowers on them. The floor of the room was a couple feet down, lost in darkness. Moving to the edge Link could hear something sliding across the floor and decided it would be better if they stayed on the upper platforms. Walking around on the platform they were currently on, Link could see the door leading to the next room on the other side. Looking back to the right Link saw a chest and pointed towards it.

"It's possible that other fairy is in there, you stay here and I'll go check."

Moving over to the flower on their current platform, he changed back into a Deku and used it to reach one that was a couple feet away to the left and used that one to move around a tree and land next to the chest. Sure enough the second fairy appeared out of the chest and Link motioned to Miki to follow him. They moved to another platform in front of them, and then around another trees as they manoeuvred to be dead center with the last platform because two skaltulah's were standing guard at the ends. Once safely back on the ground they opened the door and moved on.

"Ugh! That stench!" Tatl complained. "This place stinks just like that poison swamp!"

"Thanks for your sympathy." Miki said as she looked around the room.

The new room had two different levels, the one they were on had an area right across from them that ran to the right, though there was no way for them to reach it. There was a wooden ramp to their left that ran down to a platform and a door on the ground floor; to their right across the room was another door. The rest of the bottom floor was covered in the poisonous water, a giant wooden looking flower in the center and mean looking smaller flowers surrounding it.

"There must be fairies in here." Miki remarked as she looked back at Link. "Your pocket's glowing."

Link looked down at himself and laughed when he saw the pink glow coming from his pocket. The two made their way down the ramp and Link killed a Deku Baba when the plant tried to attack them, releasing another fairy. Jumping onto the first flower, they made their way across the water to the opposite door since the one they had first come to was locked. When they reached the other side Link turned around and looked back at the plants.

"Those freaken things have teeth!"

"Yeah…." Miki said following his gaze. "Never step on those unless you're a Scrub."

Link shook his head and jumped over to a platform to their right to a couple pots. He broke them open to collect a couple rupees and another fairy before returning to Miki.

"There's still more fairies here, your pocket is still glowing."

"We'll have to look for them a bit later." Link said. "They're probably on the second floor."

The next room also had two levels, but again there was no way for them to reach the second. There were two platforms that were raised, one straight ahead with a door, and the other to the left with a chest. The floor again was covered with the poisonous water, a platform in the center with a Deku Flower, and four of those plants around it.

Link jumped over to the Deku Flower and moved to the platform with the chest, ignoring the other door. Opening the chest he found a key, but took a moment to look around because his pocket was glowing again. Looking to his left he saw a beehive and took a chance. Shooting it down with a bubble a fairy popped out and after he collected it, moved back to Miki who had just stayed at the door.

Together they retraced their steps through the giant wood flower room and unlocked the other door. The room they entered into was slightly more complicated then the others. Again the floor was covered with the water and there were only three solid platforms; the one they were on; one to the left with a door, and one straight across that had a stairway leading up. Going from platform to platform was a wooden bridge that moved around the room and around in a square towards the other platforms; a stone block in the middle to make things a little more complicated. Pushing the block out of the way Link was ready to move on, but Miki pointed out that there were fairies in the room. Seeing a skaltulah in the far upper right hand corner of the room, Link moved over to it and killed it, and picked up another fairy.

"There's another one trapped in a bubble under the bridge." Miki said looking and pointing it out to Link.

"I need something to burst it but our bubbles won't reach that far, we'll have to come back for that one also." He answered as they again ignored the lower door and moved up the stairs.

When they reached the top they came to two tall pillars they would have to jump to in order to reach a path to the left, though it was blocked by a spider web. Having been through something similar before, Link concentrated first on getting Miki across. He took off the mask and made the jump as a human and then had Miki jump. He always had to lean out far to catch her, but he managed to get her to the web. Back tracking he moved down to where he had seen a torch on the bottom floor and lit a Deku Stick on fire. He carried the fire back up stairs and jumped across the pillar with the mobile torch. Once the web burned away they moved down a hallway and then up another set of stairs.

"Be careful….I sense a lot of evil here." Tatl said as they reached the top of the stairs.

The room they entered was pitch black and just on impulse Link turned back into a Deku Scrub. They began to slowly move down the hall when two pairs of orange eyes appeared before them. Miki gave a small cry of surprise but began spinning into the eyes and killing whatever they belonged to. More and more followed after the first pair of eyes and Link followed Miki's example; the two moving around the room until only silence greeted them. A chest suddenly appeared in the center of the room next to a torch and Link walked over to it, and found another fairy trapped. Link changed back into a human and lit another Deku Stick and lit the three torches that they had found while going around the room. The room came alive with the light and they could see another door they had missed before in the darkness.

The light in the next room was also pretty poor, but they could see the layout clear enough. The platform they were on was very high up from the bottom ground, which they could walk down to by a long staircase, though the ground was crumbling away, large craters missing from it. The next place they needed to get to was set all the way on the other side of the room, platforms with Deku Flowers moving back and forth in front of them. Again there were trees blocking a straight path which would make passing difficult, but to add onto it, two dragonflies flew around guarding the platforms.

Miki went first being the more skilled of the two when it came to moving around with the Deku flowers. She flew to the first platform and stood on it as it moved around and took out the two dragonflies. She then burrowed into the Deku Flower, launched out, and then carefully manoeuvred her way around the trees to the next moving platform. Once she was down safely, Link followed after her until they were both safely on the other side. They moved down the staircase they came to and back down into the large flower room except on the other side of the second floor.

"Look Link a fairy!" Miki yelled and ran off to the left where she busted a bubble and freed a fairy.

"There's still one in this room though, I don't get it." Link commented as she moved back to stand with him.

"I don't know, we may be able to find her later, but we should hurry, it's already eight in the night and I'm really hungry."

"How do you know what time it is?" Link asked as they walked around the top stone path to the left wall where there was an open door.

"When your life is based so much on time, you develop an internal clock." She said, and then Link's stomach growled. "Our bodies just know." She said laughing.

They entered into the room where they had found the key, this time on the second floor. They moved along the stone path to the right and moved through another door, and bars slammed down behind them. The room was relatively small, three trees moving from the ground up to the ceiling. There were two Deku Flowers, one to the left, the other on the right. In the center of the room was a small pond, and that's where a large armoured lizard dropped down holding a fierce axe.

"Big lizard." Link commented, and then the lizard breathed out fire towards them.

"Big fire breathing lizard! Deku's make wonderful kinder!" Miki said with wide eyes.

"Hide in a flower!" Link said and pushed her towards one and took off the mask.

Link moved towards the lizard and struck it with his sword as soon as he was close enough. He immediately had to back up though because the lizard breathed out a line of fire after it was struck. He moved right back in, though he didn't move quite fast enough and got nicked on the shoulder. He backed up again and then quickly moved in again and struck the lizard, killing it on the third strike. Once it was dead a chest appeared in the center of the room.

"So what did we get?"

Link looked up and laughed, Miki was hovering in the air above him on the flower pedals of a Deku Flower. Link moved over and opened the chest, pulled out a bow, quiver, and arrows and showed it to her.

"Hey! We can get that other fairy now!" She said as Link slung the bow over his shoulder with the quiver as her pedals fell apart.

Link caught her and the two moved back into the large flower room. Once they were in the room Tatl commented on how they could see the large flower better and Link noticed there was a torch in the center of it. There was a burning torch a little lower then their platform and it lined up perfectly with the other torch. Link knocked an arrow and let it fly; it caught on fire as it passed through the flames of the torch and struck the torch in the middle of the flower, also catching it on fire. The pedals of the wooden flower moved out and in and out again, and as it began to rise, the poison in the water began to drain.

"Link! The water is pure again! Now we can collect the fairies and move deeper into the temple and defeat the monster and save the princess!" Miki said, happiness making her eyes sparkle.

"Not yet, there's bound to be a boss key to get into the monsters room." Link said recalling the temples from back in Hyrule.

Turning around he went back into the room they had just been in and noticed another door to the far left, and a golden eye on the edge of the platform. Link shot the eye and the platform with the Deku Flower began to rise. Going back to a Deku, he jumped down onto one of the flowers that no longer had teeth. Once the platform was back down he jumped over to it and waited until it was in line with the second floor again before he burrowed down and hovered over to the other platform. Once he was there he waited for Miki and once she was with him they moved through the door.

The next rooms' floor was covered with a shallow layer of water and five Deku flowers here and there. At the far end locked behind a door and thorny vines was the boss key. A big frog was in the middle of the room, it was red and black with a frilly spine on its back and long sharp claws. As soon as they entered the frog hopped over and tried to attack them, but Link turned into a human and slashed it. The frog was so stupid that he got in three clean hits before it backed up and lifted his hands to his mouth and called out. The ground began to shake and then a turtle with the spikes around its shell burst from the ground. The frog jumped onto the turtles back and the turtle hid into his shell, spinning towards them with the spikes.

"Crazy turtle frog!" Miki cried and dove into a flower.

The turtle zoomed towards where she was, and just as it passed over the flower she was in, she shot from the flower, knocking the frog off the turtle. The frog hopped up the wall and started to move along the ceiling towards the turtle but Link shot him down with an arrow. The frog hit the floor with a crack, but still got up and jumped back on the turtles back. The duo looked at each other and nodded as they worked together, Miki knocking the frog from the turtles back and Link shooting him down with an arrow. They kept up their tactics until the frog hit the floor and didn't get back up, instead he burst into blue flames, and when they cleared a happy, wide eyed blue frog simply hopped in its spot. They quickly grabbed the Master Key and moved back through the previous rooms to collect the four fairies they had missed and entered into the final room which lead to the boss room.

The room was a small complicated network of different level platforms leading to the boss room, and Link stepped back and allowed Miki to lead. They reached the boss room door after they had collected the four final fairies and found themselves face to face with a massive jungle warrior.

Link didn't waste anytime getting into the fight. He struck the jungle warrior and then went in for a second blow but hit nothing but air, the warrior coming back down and swiping his massive sword at him. Link dodged but then the jungle man started chanting and called moths to him. Link was prepared to defend against the moths, but they veered off to the right. Looking over Link saw Miki had pulled up a bomb flower and the flame on the wick was attracting the moths. When she was far enough away the bomb exploded, killing all the months at once. Looking over at Link she gave him a thumbs up, showing she would take care of any little critters the jungle man summoned up. Link turned back to face against the monster, but a ring of fire surrounded him. Taking out his bow he used it to hit the enemy and the fire vanished. The battle went on about the same, Miki taking care of the bugs, Link having to use his bow when a ring of fire surrounded him, and also when the jungle man went into a deadly spin with his sword. It wasn't long before the Jungle Warrior did a small spin on his heel as he clutched his head and burst into blue flames.

The customary blue ring of light appeared with the mask of the jungle warrior floating in the center. The mask rose in the air above them as soon as they entered into the light and there was a great flash. When they opened their eyes they were standing on a tall pillar, bubbles floating all around them with a light fog. Four long pillars that looked like water falling from the endless sky, and clouds of water floating all around. They could hear something seeming to be crying out in the distance in a mournful tone.

"What's that?" Tatl asked.

Far off in the distance behind one of the pillars they could see a huge shape; though not able to quite distinguish what it looked like; and it cried out to them again.

"Wait…listen…It seems to be saying something…" Tatl continued. "Could that crying be its way of telling is some sort of melody? Don't just stand there….Get your instrument…"

Once Link pulled out his ocarina, Tatl jumped around, copying the notes that the creature was trying to teach them: The Oath to Order.

"C a l l u s. That's what it is saying."

There was another flash of light and then the three were back in the temple, vinnes behind them covering the wall and the exit in front of them.

"The four people Tael talked about…" Tatl started again as she drifted up a little and away from Link. "Do you think he was talking about the Spirit that was sealed inside that mask?" And then she flew to a couple inches above Links face. "….Oh! Hey, you were pretty good out there! Have you done this before or what?" And then she slowly floated away again. "Now, just keep up that pace and save the other three!" And back in Links face. "Hey! Um…." And away again. "All that stuff I did to you…..your horse…I ……I apologize…sorry." And back in his face again. "There! I apologized! So don't hold it against me, got it? Now then." She said and started to bounce in the air. "We've helped the princess just like the monkey asked…So now our next stop is in the mountains! Let's hurry and do something about that Skull Kid!"

All of them jumped when there was a sudden rustle behind them and they turned to see a small cave shielded by the vines they thought was just covering a wall. Link cut them away and ran into the cave, only to find the Deku Princess. She had long leafy hair and petals through it, petal earrings and a crown made of the same kind of petals. She wore a dress like Miki's except she had red colours with more blossoms.

"Who?...Who are you?" She asked.

"Link."

"Link? Please to meet you, I am the Deku Princess. Were you by chance asked by that monkey to come save me?"

"Yep."

"Aha! Just as I suspected! You see, your body smells a little bit like monkey. So…the monkey made it back fine after all. That's good."

"Actually your father is going to have him punished because he thinks the monkey kidnapped you."

"I was worried that when I didn't come home, my father would think that monkey had kidnapped me! I was worried that my father would even go as far as to punish the poor monkey! Hoo-hoo-hoo."

"He's doing it now; he's going to boil him I think."

"…..Don't tell me. You can't be serious. Is father actually doing that?! Yet another hasty decision father!" The Deku Princess began to hop up and down in her anger. "W-well, we haven't any time to lose….Quickly Mr. Link, could you please find something to carry me in so you can take me to the Deku Palace?"

Link looked around at the other two and then pulled out the bottle that he had got the red potion in and scooped up the princess.

"It's a tight fit, but I'll manage!" The Deku Princess said.

Link turned around and he and Miki raced back to the Deku palace, Link turning back into a Deku on the way. When they entered into the Royal Chamber the two stopped dead in their tracks; they had set up a large pot over the fire and a rig that lowered the tied monkey down in to the water. They were snapped out of their shock by the cries of the Deku Princess shouting at them to let her out in front of her father. Link did as he was told, going up in front of the king and releasing the Princess.

"Oh, my princess!" The king exclaimed. "My darling Princes!! You are all right? I was so worried."

"Hurnf-hurnf. Foolish father!" The Deku Princess shrieked, truly pissed off. She jumped up on the throne and knocked her father over and started jumping up and down on him. The guards came up around the throne, but when she turned her gaze on them they shrank back in fear. "WHAT are you doing?!" She yelled shaking in anger. "Let that monkey go this instant!!"

Once the monkey was back on solid ground, Link, Miki and the Princess walked over to him.

"Oh, Mr. Monkey," The Princess began, "I am truly sorry, father does such rash things when he's worried about me."

"I understand, Princess," The monkey replied smiling, "Forget about that. Has the temple been returned to normal?"

"Why yes, thanks to Mr. Link here. I am very, truly grateful."

"Really? So you're called Link are you? Thank you for keeping your promise to me." The monkey said bowing.

"As a symbol of our gratitude," The Princess started, "Our butler has prepared a little something for you. Please accept it. You'll find it in the shrine that will be to your right when you leave the palace."

Link thanked the Princess and he and Miki made off to the side of the room.

"Do you want to bring the fairies to the fairy fountain now?" Link asked Miki.

"Actually, why don't you go see the butler first? It's past three in the morning and I would just like to rest for the moment, and really now that the swamp is back to normal, I don't need to go see the fairy, so you can do that after you see the butler."

"Alright, no problem, I'll be back in a bit." Link said and gave her a hug.

He left the palace and hopped across the lily pads to the right of the palace and moved through an entrance that was cut into the stone wall. He moved up a stone hallway and nodded to the butler who was standing there with a candle.

"Link, I am truly thankful for what you have done for the princess." He said with a bow. "As a sign of our gratitude, we Deku have prepared something that we think may assist you. I will lead you to it. Please follow me." He took out an umbrella and then gave a small hop opening it up and it began to spin and he moved off at a rather quick pace.

Link followed after him in human form, not caring if he was seen or not, running through long corridors and over small bodies of water. He went through more corridors and then hopped from tree stump to tree stump, corridors, water, corridors, around fire walls, corridors, stumps, corridors, and then finally into another room where the butler landed and he turned back to a Deku.

"Well done Link! Now here is the item I promised. Please accept it."

The butler gave Link a mask that looked like a pigs head, and when he had pocketed it, the butler continued.

"Actually, when I see you, I am reminded of my son who left home long ago…Somehow I feel as if I am once again racing my son…I am afraid I may have tried too hard to outrun you. As old as I am, I am still a fast competitor. Just like when I raced my son…Please forgive my rudeness."

Link thanked him for the mask and then left, heading back up to Woodfall. He found the Great Fairy's cave and released all the little fairies. They gathered together and a pink haired Great Fairy appeared and smiled down at him.

"Oh, strange young one! I am the Great Fairy of Power! Thank you for returning my broken and shattered body to normal. As thanks, I grant you prowess with this new sword technique!" She cast her spell on him and Link felt dizzy for a moment, but it soon passed and again he felt so full of energy. "Come see me again whenever you are overcome by weariness." The great fairy said and vanished.

Link smiled to himself for doing a good job and then turned around and walked out of the Great Fairy's cave. The sky was already a light pink, and Link guessed that it was close to six in the morning. Now that everything was over, he was extremely tired, hungry, and really needed to use the bathroom. He made his way back to the Deku Palace and Mikado was waiting outside for him.

"So is the fairy whole again?" She asked as she lead him down the hall to the Royal Chamber, which was empty.

"Yep, she gave me the power of a new sword technique." Link answered as she lead him down a hall he had never noticed before.

"Wonderful, I'm so happy to hear that." Miki said and stopped in front of a door. "For all that we have done, we've also been given accommodations for however long we need. This is your room, there's a bathroom inside and when you've rested we'll have a nice meal. Rest well." She said and moved down the hall to the next door and went inside.

Link watched her go and thought about the temple for awhile before he entered into his own room. The size of the room made him pause for a moment in the doorway for it was the same size as the Royal Chamber. The floor was covered in fall coloured leaves and all along the walls were tall potted plants. At the far end of the room was a pile of grass and a blanket of flowers which must have been what the Deku's slept on. To the left and carefully caged was a merrily burning fire. Here and there were small wooden decorative items, and to the right another door which must have been the bathroom.

Link pulled off the mask after closing and locking the door and moved to the bathroom. The room was a lot smaller and more cozy, all different kinds of flowers were placed along the floor and walls. There was a toilet on the right hand side and a wooden bath filled with hot water on the left surrounded by hanging vines.

Link shoved Tatl away and after relieving himself, stripped off and sank into the hot water. The warmth felt wonderful and he relaxed as far into the tub as he could without drowning himself as the dirt and blood was washed from his body. Finding soaps on the side of the tube he washed up and took a minute to look at his shoulder where he had been nicked, sitting in the tub with the water up to his waist.

"That doesn't look too bad." Miki said, suddenly appearing at the doorway.

"Hey!" Link yelped and sunk down into the water up to his chine. "You really should have knocked."

"Sorry, I forgot how shy humans are, Deku's don't really care if someone sees them in the bath." Miki said as she walked into the room with a small bag. "I need to see your shoulder though." She jumped up and sat down on the edge of the bath tub, looking at where his shoulder was, tinting the water red since his picking at it had caused it to open again.

Link looked up at her, cheeks burning, but he rose out of the water enough so she would see the wound. Miki took a cloth and dried around it and then opened her kit. She pulled out a small tube and smeared some of the clear gel from it on his shoulder. It didn't burn as Link expected, instead it left a nice cooling sensation. She put the gel away and opened a small package, and pulled out a weird looking small rectangular white cloth. She put it over the spot and then stuck it in place with some other white cloth looking stuff that made a weird noise when she pulled them apart, and they stuck on his skin when she pushed gently down on them.

"There we go, now don't get that wet or it'll come off and then you'll be in trouble." She said and put all her things away. "Now rest up Link." She said and jumped off the side of the tub and hurried away.

"How in the world did she get in anyway? I locked the outside door." Link said in bewilderment as he stepped from the bath and wrapped a towel around himself.

"Oh, I let her in." Tatl said as she came into the room. "She was worried about your shoulder and said she knew how to help heal it."

"Could have warned me." Link said with a yawn.

He left his clothes on the floor and walked back into the main room. He put the Deku Mask back on just in case and carefully slipped from his towel to the bed. Burrowing deep into the grass and flowers, Link closed his eyes and was out like a light.

* * *

Link woke up to the sound of his own stomach growling. Turning over he lifted his head out of the grassy bed and found his clothes freshly washed, repaired, and folded right next to his bed.

"How did they get there?" He asked the fairy as she flew over to him.

"Oh some maids swung by to clean up the bathroom. I le them in and when they saw your clothes they took it upon themselves to fix them up." The fairy reported as she flew around.

Link watched her go and simple shook his head. He was sure if a killer had come by she would have let him into the room also. Shooing the fairy out of the room he took off the mask, got out of bed, got dressed, and then put the mask back on. Once he was all set he moved out of his room and walked down to Miki's. Knocking on her door he waited until she opened it and then smiled to her.

"Did you sleep well?" She asked and stepped aside so he could enter her room.

"Yeah I did." He said as he stepped into the room and looked around.

Miki's room was a lot more furnished then Links' own. The floor was covered in fresh green leaves and large blue flower blossoms. The walls were also covered by thick umbrella leaves and pictures of different Deku's. The bed was also better put together. The base was made of thick layers of moss, along with two pillows. What would have been the sheets were long tiger lily petals sown together, and long vines with red blossoms hung from the ceiling to form a curtain around the rest of the bed. There were mirrors, a stone fire place that was also pushed back from the room and carefully caged, and chairs and tables scattered about; one table had been dragged to the center of the room, and sitting on it, piled high was…

"Food!" Link cried, almost drooling on the floor.

"Go help yourself." Mikado laughed as she closed the door, and soon joined Link at the table.

"There's so much of it." He said as he looked at the assortment of fruits and vegetables.

"The Deku's wanted to make sure we were well fed after not eating for a full day and a half."

"Eh?" Link said looking up from scarfing down strawberries. "What time is it?"

"Six o'clock in the evening, the second day from which I met you, or what would have been the second day had we not gone back in time."

"Oh." Link said a little crest fallen. He had wanted to spend time with Mikado during the day since they didn't have a lot of time left, and he was enjoying her company.

They ate in silence for the rest of the meal, and when they were done they left the dished for the servants to collect and Miki lead Link outside the palace and back into the swamp. They stopped on the dock and Link looked around fully for the first time since they had left the temple.

The water around them was a sapphire blue in the darkness, clear so he could see the sand at the bottom. The plants around them were lush in their colours, and the dragonflies that had once plagued the air were no more. The sky above them was just starting to clear of the clouds that it had as the rain had fallen during the day, and the stars began to peek out. Link frowned though when he saw the horrid moon above, always a constant reminder of what he now had to do.

The two Scrubs sat down on the edge of the dock, the bottom of their feet dancing across the surface of the water. They sat in silence for awhile, Tatl's light washing over them, but eventually the fairy excused herself; claiming she wanted to speak with the Great Fairy. They watched as her light faded up and away, and then finally Mikado broke the silence.

"I guess we'll have to go our separate ways tomorrow."

Link looked over at her in surprise; he hadn't really thought she would bring the topic up herself. Even under his gaze Mikado kept looking up at the now clear sky, the starlight shinning down into her soft brown and slightly green eyes.

"If you came with me then we wouldn't have to part." He said looking back up.

"I don't think that would be a good idea Link." She answered with sadness in her voice. "I would only slow you down. You need to go to the other three areas of this land, and I wouldn't be able to go with you. I'm only a Scrub, there's only so much I can do outside my own element."

"I really wish you would come though." Link said.

"Let's go around the swamp some." Mikado suddenly said, obviously changing the subject.

Without a further word she stood up and began to hop around on the lily pads, forcing Link to follow her. He was a little down about her resistance, but pretty soon the two were laughing together, Miki showing Link the wonders of the swamp. They played with the lone frog, discovered the plants that grew once the poison had gone, and moved through a creepy old underground house that had been long abandoned, Miki claiming that it was cursed. Eventually they made their way back to the Deku Palace, returning to their separate rooms at midnight.

As Link lay in his bed staring at the ceiling after he had bathed, Tatl flew back into the room and landed on the pillow besides him.

"So what did the Great Fairy have to say?"

"Mikado's an odd ball."

"Tatl!!"

"Well that's what she said. All she does is go around the swamp exploring and collecting mushrooms for the old hags. None of the other Deku's really pay much attention to her, except for the princess. When the swamp was poisoned she tried everything she could to find the cause except go to the temple. A couple days before the Princess was captured, Miki went missing and no one knew where she went. She suddenly appeared what would have been three days ago, and people said she was different." Tatl reported.

"What do you mean she was different?" Link asked turning his head to look at her.

"Well The Great Fairy just said that she seemed strange, not like her usual self. No offence to Miki, but apparently before she wasn't the brightest star in the sky, and then when she came back she made a whole lot of sense and seemed to see things like others couldn't. Like before she would have never been able to help us through the temple as much as she did. She also wasn't all that good using the Deku Flowers, and now she was like an expert. Apparently her eyes used to be the odd red colour that most Deku's eyes are, and now they're that brown green colour."

"People change though in times of danger, maybe she just smartened up some because the swamp was dying." Link said as he turned his head away from the fairy and closed his eyes.

"I know Link; I just think we should be a little careful. She has never given us any reason to doubt her, but if she's not being all that honest with us, it may be better to just leave her behind when we go back in time, I mean if you want to see her again you can also look for her, she wont remember you, but at least you wont completely loose her."

"I know Tatl, it's just hard. She reminds me somewhat of that friend that I'm looking for. She has the same easy going spirit as her, I know they're not even close to being the same, but it was still nice to have a friend and a small reminder of who I'm looking for."

"I know Link, I know." Tatl said as she curled up next to his head and toyed with his hair.

Link fell asleep thinking about what Tatl had just told him, knowing that no matter what her past was like, Mikado was still a good person, and he would try and convince her to come with them tomorrow.

* * *

Link woke up to find the fairy missing, but his clothes next to his bed again. He quickly dressed and turned back into a Deku before moving out into the hall. Looking down towards Miki's room he saw the fairy talking with her. Walking down the hall both girls fell silent and greeted him with good mornings. They went into Miki's room again and sat down around the table, this time just filled with fruit.

"Ok, what time is it this time?" Link asked as he sat down and began to peal a banana.

"It's noon, I guess you were still really tired from all the events, but you'll get stronger and be able to go for longer times soon." Miki said with bright eyes as she munched on some raspberries.

"What are the plans for today?" Link asked moving onto an orange.

"We'll I thought we would return to Clock Town since you need to be there anyway to turn back time. Actually, I don't think you actually need to be in that exact area for it to work, but I thought it would be nice to watch the fire works again." She said, and jus then the earth began to shake again, clear signs that it was only twelve hours before the moon was to crash into the earth.

Link gave a small nod of his head and they finished their breakfast in silence again. When they were done they moved out of the room and spent some time going around the palace saying their goodbyes to everyone, though Miki promised the princess she would be back in a couple days this time. Moving out of the palace, they hopped through the swamp, moving back towards the main area where the boat tours were. When they touched ground, Link pulled off the mask and pointed at his back. Miki's eyes lit up and she hoped up, and Link carried her down the path.

"You know I think I'm going to miss this when you're gone." She said laughing.

"I promise before all this is done I'll come back and give you another lift around the area ok?" Link said, not mentioning the fact that she wouldn't miss it because she wouldn't remember it.

The two moved through the rest of the swamp and then made their way up the path towards Clock Town. Every now and then the ground would begin to shake, and both would sneak a peak up to look at the moon that hovered above them. When they reached Clock Town Miki took Link around to different places in West Clock Town, playing games like shooting down targets in one place, trying to get around a maze of tall structures in another, and shooting octorks in a small pond at yet another place. Miki made sure Link put his money into the bank that somehow still had the cash he had left last time they had been there, and then they went to the inn and hung out in the kitchen, having nothing better to do.

When the sun began to sink they moved back outside and went to sit on the railing that was above the bar in West Clock Town, watching the sunset in silence. Night fell around them, and still they remained silent, enjoying each others company, and each lost in their own thoughts. It was such a comfort to have someone working through the dungeons with him again, and he really didn't want to loose it. Having Misty work with him so long had made him almost need to have someone around all the time, and when Navi left too, he felt as if he was all alone in the world for a long time before he went out and found Zelda.

All too soon the evening was over, and then the Clock Tower was chiming off midnight, and the fireworks were bursting over head as the door to the Clock Tower opened. The two stood and faced each other, Miki's eyes sad as she looked at Link.

"Please, come with me Mikado." Link begged as he took out his ocarina, knowing that he would have to play the song soon.

"Link, I'm sorry, but I can't, I'd be too far out of my element. You'll do fine, trust me." Miki said and moved up and gave him a great big hug.

Link hugged her back, holding onto her for a good couple of minutes as the moon grew ever closer to the earth, finally he stepped back and held her at arms left and simply smiled at her. He let her go and the two took a couple steps back from each other so she wouldn't get caught up in the magic of the Song of Time. Playing the song Link's heart was heavy and as the notes echoed around the area, he heard her say one last thing.

"No matter where you go Link, you'll always find a friend to help you on the way."

Link was swallowed by a bright light and the sound of a clock ticking all around him. He could feel the extra arrows he had slip from his pocket and the bandage around his arm fly off and disappear into nothingness. Then sun light warmed his face again, and when he opened his eyes he was standing in front of the Clock Tower, all the way back on the first day. He looked ahead of him a little resigned to move, when he got a sudden chill down his spin like someone was watching him. Turning his head to look up to the left of the board walk his jaw fell open as he noticed the creature standing there, staring at him with a small smile before it spoke.

"Hello Link, Hero of Time."


	5. Masks

**_A/N:_** So I got really excited about the next chapter and I wrote this one up really fast when I should have been studying. The next chapter will not be up before May 4th though, it's going to take me a long time to write it once I'm done exams and move back home. IMPORTANT notice at the end of this chapter.

* * *

Link was frozen to the spot, blue eyes locked onto the creature that stood back in the shadows that knew who he was. He couldn't get a clear look at her for she was crouched down and had a cloak covering her. He knew she was a creature though, for the body under the cloak was far from human. There was a chill that came from the creature and a blue light seemed to shine out, and then Link realized that time had fully stopped, everyone around them were frozen. The creature slowly stood, Link only coming up to its chest, and then it took off the cloak, making Link gasp slightly.

Even though she was an animal, she was actually rather beautiful. Link had seen pictures of the legendary creature before, they were known as the Keaton, fox demons. She had long limbs, her legs bent slightly, standing on her paws. She had long slender arms, her hands actually looking like a humans with long fingers. Her face was triangular, with a long snout that ended in a petit black nose, long sharp teeth lining her mouth. She had long points for ears though he couldn't actually see the inside of them; her eyes black pools. She was dressed in a long simple white gown that was slender, but very wide at the bottom for maximum movement. It was cut in a square neck line and sleeveless, and had a small opening in the back to allow her three long tails so swing out the back. She was all yellow in colour except for the tips of her ears and tails which were black.

"Please do not fear me of Hero of Time, I have been sent to help you in your quest." The Keaton said.

"You're a little late." Tatl said hovering behind Link some, "We've already gone through one temple, so it's kinda obvious we don't need your help."

"Tatl!"

"Hahaha, I am not here to help you with the temples oh little fairy." The Keaton laughed. "I am here to help you locate the special masks that are found throughout this land, such as the Mask of Scents you received from the Deku's. There are a number of them that will be of great service to you."

"It would be great to have your help then Ms. Keaton," Link said, "Though I hope time doesn't have to stay still the whole time we're going about getting them, I think it would be a little hard to do."

"No, time is only still for now because I wanted to show you my true self, once I am back under my cloak time will resume to its normal pace, for as you said, it would be impossible to collect the masks while time is still. And you may call me Ilarie."

"Ilarie, that's a pretty name." Link said as she place her cloak back on and time began to move again. "So where do we start?"

"I think it would be a better idea if we went to the Inn and discussed things there." Ilarie said as she turned around and moved towards East Clock Town.

"It would be nice to talk there but all the rooms are full, where are we supposed to talk in private? I hardly think that we should discuss things like this in public."

"Oh, the kitchen will do just fine, after all masks are not all that desired around here, and no one will know what we are talking about anyway." She said as she opened the door to the Stalk Pot Inn and moved inside.

Link followed her into the kitchen at the back of the inn and sat down on a box that was there as she sat on the edge of the counter, being tall enough to sit comfortably on its edge.

"Now Link," Ilarie said as she folded her cloak more comfortably around her and to also hide her true appearance, "There are twenty masks in total that you need to retrieve, but there is one thing I wish to discuss with you first. You recall the Bombers Gang that you met when you first arrived?" When Link nodded his head she continued on, "Well it is true that they are here to help people, but only human children may join. You are now a human child, so if you pass their test again you will be able to be a member and receive a book where you can record people you need to help. You must do at least a couple of these in order to find some of the masks. It will be up to you if you do them all or not, but I will be here to help you with them if you so choose to help all the people."

"I may as well help them, I mean how hard can what they need be?" Link asked, and then fell silent as Anju came in.

Anju always seemed so happy, but when she moved into the kitchen she looked rather sad, and her greetings weren't all that bright and happy. She moved about the kitchen grabbing some bowls and poured some soup into them and then moved back out of the kitchen.

"She seemed so sad, and I saw her on the second day once, when it was raining, she looked like she wanted to cry." Tatl commented.

"Anju would be one of the people you will be helping to receive one of the twenty masks, but she will have to wait for a couple more time changes, to help her, you will have a lot of work to do." Ilarie said as she turned her eyes back on Link.

"I'll do whatever I have to; she seems like such a nice lady, she doesn't deserve to be so sad, what happened anyway?" Link asked.

"That I can not tell you, you will have to find out for yourself once you are fully ready to help her, which again, will not be for some time." Ilarie said as she turned her head to look out the kitchen windows, a small smile slipping onto her face.

"What's so funny?" Link asked watching her.

"One of those you need to help is that hand in the toilet you met before."

At that moment Link was really creeped out that she even knew about that, but at the same time, he took an instant liking to her, she had a sense of humour at least.

"Oh yeah? And how am I supposed to do that?"

"Oh you shall see, but first we should really sit down and talk about this a little more, I need to think about what masks you can go and retrieve now, and which ones you need to wait and get later on." Ilarie said as she folded her arms across her chest and closed her eyes.

Link and Tatl looked at each other and Link shrugged his shoulders. He jumped off his box and moved around the kitchen, helping himself to some soup and some bread. He sat back down on his box and folded his legs in front of him, eating his soup and feeding small pieces of bread to Tatl as they watched the Keaton in front of them, wondering how long she was going to take. Link finished his soup and had just placed the bowl on the counter when Ilarie opened her eyes again and looked at them.

"You can find the Bremen Mask tonight at the Laundry Pool by talking to the music player there. Kamoro's mask is also to be found during the night on one of the tall mushroom shaped rock structures towards the Northern Mountain, both men are also those who you need to help. With Kamoro's mask you may also help the Rosa sisters, who will appear in West Clock town at night. At twelve thirty tonight an old woman will be in North Clock Town and a man will try to rob her, help her and you will receive the Blast Mask. Before you do all this though, you must go talk to the Bombers Gang again and become a member."

Link stared at her with an open mouth, glad now that he had eaten since it seemed like he would have a long day ahead of him.

"Well…..that doesn't seem to be a lot of work to do all in one day now does it?" Tatl said sarcastically.

"All that must be done today is for you to join the Bombers gang, and help the old lady, it really is not that much to do when you think about it, the others can be done tomorrow night, but it all must be done before the third night or you risk loosing your chance of seeing them." Ilarie said as she stood up.

"Are you going to help me through everything?" Link asked as he also stood.

"I will find you tonight after sundown once you have become a member of the gang, I will meet with you in North Clock Town long before the old lady is due to arrive, do not fear Link, you will be fine on your own." Ilarie said with another smile and she patted Link lightly on top of the head.

Link nodded his head and then turned and left the kitchen, just knowing that Ilarie would keep her word, even if she didn't though, she had already helped him out a lot by just telling him what he needed to do. He hadn't realized that he would need so many masks, but he trusted her word about the matter. He and Tatl moved out of the inn and headed for North Clock Town, where he busted the leader of the Bombers Gangs balloon, and once again had to go find all the members. It was easy for him this time since he remembered where they had all been hiding back when Mikado had been helping him, and soon enough he was standing in front of the five of them once again.

"You did it! So what's your name, guy?" The leader said and then continued once Link had given his name. "Link, huh? All right! That Skull Kid broke our rules and he's been doing all kinds of bad things lately. Starting today, he's out! I'm making Link a Bomber! You guys don't mind, right?"

"Right!" The others cried.

"This is the Bombers Notebook. It contains the words we live by! Read it over!" The leader handed over the notebook to Link and then began to read off the rules. "One: Find troubled people and add their names and pictures. Only twenty people will fit in your book. Two: Promise to help them. Mark promises with Promise Stickers. Never be late with fulfilling your promises. Three: Whenever you solve someone's problem, it makes you happy, so a Happy Sticker will be added to your book. Four: No removing stickers! Use Promise Stickers to keep track of people until everyone is happy. Don't forget the rules! All right, then. I'll teach you our secret code. Ready? The code is three-two-five-four-one! Write it down!" Once the leader was done all the kids went their own ways and Link stood in the middle of North Clock Town.

It was still early in the afternoon and he didn't really have anything to do, he had promised Ilarie that he would help the old lady that night along with a bunch of other people. He began to walk towards East Clock Town when he stopped and remember the hand in the toilet. It had asked him for some paper, but he never mentioned what kind of paper it had to be. Grinning he ran off towards the Bombers hideout, went to the observatory, picked up another moons tear and then brought it back to the Deku who had the flower by the Clock Tower. Once he had the Land title Deed he looked around, hoping that perhaps he would catch a glimpse of Mikado, even though she had said before that if a Deku didn't want to be seen, then anyone would be hard pressed to find one.

It was closer to six in the evening now so Link decided to go to the Stock Pot Inn and see what he could find to eat. He went to the kitchen again and as usual there was plenty of soup left. Grabbing a bowl he sat down and ate, and then helped himself to another bowl. The soup wasn't the best in the world, but it wasn't so bad that he couldn't eat it. In the situation he was in he would do what he had to in order to get something to eat; his friends always said beggars couldn't be choosers. He was just finishing his second bowl of soup when Ilarie walked into the room again, and she smiled down at him.

"Are you ready to get started on finding the masks and helping people out Link?" She asked as she sat down on the edge of the counter again, taking his empty bowl from him and setting it on the counter.

"Yep, so where should I start?"

"Go to the Laundry Pool and simply listen to the organ-grinder that is sitting on the bench. He just needs someone to talk to, and he will give you the Bremen Mask. When you're done with him just meet me back here because the next step you need to take is to save the bomb lady from the thief. If you want to you can probably get everyone else done tonight also and then I have one more thing for you to do tomorrow during the day." Ilarie said as she watched Tatl fly around the room.

"Alright, I'll head over to the Laundry Pool since it's already six thirty; I guess I'll be back in a little while." Link said as he waved to Ilarie.

Link moved down the hall and out the Stock Pot Inn as he watched the final rays of the sun wash over the small town. He moved down the steps into the center part of the town and then made his way across the empty space and up the steps leading to the Laundry Pool. As he moved down the path he could hear the music of the organ-grinder and when he rounded the corner, the musician was sitting on the bench just as Ilarie had said. Walking over to him, Link waved a hello and the organ-grinder began speaking.

"La-la-la….they said I was much too loud when I practiced in my room. They got mad. Sigh…Now I'm sad. I'll just think about the past to keep my mind off the bad. Ah, yes, I'll do that….Dear guest…Long ago, I was in an animal troupe, with dogs and donkeys and such."

"If it was an animal group," Link interrupted, "Then why could a human join?"

"Why could a…? Why could a…? Why could a man join?! That's 'cause a man is an animal too, my boy! They were all great. But there was one thing I didn't like about it…." And then he began playing the organ really fast and he had a look of pure anger on his face as he spoke. "Why was the…? Why was the…? What was the dog the leader?! Was it 'cause something was wrong with me, sir??" But then he calmed down and continued his story. "Oh, that dog was an amazing leader! He always had a stellar troupe no matter what animals he had to work with….That's why I…That's why I…That's why I stole it….The dog's mask. I stole it. I wanted it because it was the leaders mask….But I no longer need it…I give it to my guest." He gave Link a mask that was in the shape of an eagles face before he continued on. "The leader was a good instructor. His members matured quickly and they became adults in an instant."

When the guy was done with his confession he simply went back to playing and Link just shook his head as he turned around and left, heading back to the Stock Pot Inn. When he entered into the kitchen Ilarie was leaning against the counter as if she was in pain and Link ran to her side.

"Hey are you ok?" he asked as he laid a hand on her back.

At the sound of his voice and the touch of his hand Ilarie stood back up and looked down at him with a forced smile on her face.

"I am fine Link. Do not worry about me, I am only but a bit tired, I have travelled far and wide to get here in order to help you. Once you have acquired the masks that you need, I will be able to rest for awhile as you go to the Northern Mountains." She said as she stood up straight and then turned around to face him.

"Hey Ilarie, how much to do you know about me?" Link asked as he sat down on his box and faced her.

"I know all about what happened in your land of Hyrule, the Goddess told me of your brave deeds, and they sent me here to follow you in order to aid you in your quest to save these new people. Why do you ask?"

"I just thought it was so odd that you addressed me as the Hero of Time when I first ran into you earlier today. I didn't know anyone would remember those events besides me since Zelda had turned back time so that it seemed as if nothing had happened, except Ganondorf was locked away so he wouldn't be able to cause any trouble." Link admitted as he looked down at his feet to avoid eye contact.

"It is true that time was turned back so all the horrible events of what had happened would be erased from the minds of the poor people. There are those however, who are not affected by the power of time, and they remember everything that had happened, and will never forget." Ilarie answered kindly.

"Really?" Link said, his head shooting up with hope in his eyes. "I know Navi remembered what had happened. Do you know if my friend Misty, who helped me through everything still remembers? If she does then perhaps she's also looking for me and then maybe eventually we can-" Link started but was cut off by Ilarie's raised hand.

"Link, Misty was from a completely different world from this, you wouldn't even be able to understand anything of her world. There is no magic in her world, no fairies; no monsters such as there are here. There is much evil in her world, but it is man himself that causes all the problems, but not one single man may take over the whole world, he could try, but he would be stopped by thousands of people. I am sorry Link, but there is no chance that you and she will just happen upon each other." Ilarie informed him with sadness in her voice.

Link looked back down at his feet as he allowed her words to sink in. He knew that she was right, but he still didn't want to believe her. Link excused himself and moved to the bathroom and closed the curtain so that he would be alone for awhile. The hand didn't come out to beg for paper, and Link assumed that he knew that whoever was sitting in the bathroom just wanted to be left alone. Link sat with his back against the wall and pulled his legs to his chest as he leaned his head against his knees and closed his eyes. He was starting to think that this whole trip was pointless, that finding Misty would be impossible. He was starting to feel very alone again, and being only fourteen, he was wondering if he could actually handle everything. Once he was done here, he figured it would just be best if he returned back to Hyrule and simply gave up looking for Misty and Navi. So Link sat there in the dark with nothing but his bleak thoughts to accompany him long into the night, until finally midnight came, and Ilarie woke him from his dark dreams.

In silence the two made their way up to North Clock Town and stationed themselves in the middle of the grass as they watched as old lady come in through the gate and slowly make her way towards the East Clock Town gate. Just as she was almost there, a man skipped into view, a great big grin on his face. He moved up next to the old woman and then pushed her over, stealing her bag of goods.

"Ouch! Watch out!" The old lady cried, "Stop! Theif!! Give an old Lady her luggage back!"

The man ran towards the Northern Gate, but Link was right there in front of him. Taking out his sword he swept at the man, who had to dodge to miss getting sliced in half. He dropped the lady's things on the ground, but decided to keep running instead of taking on the kid with a sword. As Link watched the guy run away, the old lady came up behind him and picked up her bag.

"Thank you," She said, "Since he didn't make off with them, I can finally stock Bomb bags at our shop. Maybe I'll put 'em out tomorrow. Yes, I must thank you. It's a dangerous mask, but maybe you could use it to throw your own festival fireworks show." The old lady handed him the Blast Mask before giving her final thanks. "Well, thanks for helping me. Take care…"

"Ok, now what?" Link asked Ilarie as she came up behind him having stayed back to keep out of the way.

"Well if you feel up to it, you can find Kamaro who will be dancing on one of the large stone mushrooms outside this gate, he needs some….spiritual healing."

Link nodded and turned away without another word, heading out of the gate. He was still upset about the whole Misty thing, but he knew he shouldn't take it out on someone who was still trying to help him. Link moved down the stone path that lead to another path leading down to the ground below, and he stopped at the railing that ran around the cliff to make sure no one would be able to fall off the cliff. He looked up at the high, dark mountain peaks, knowing that he had to go up them very soon. His lips turned down into a frown as he heard music a little far off, and he looked to the left to see a man dancing on one of the mushrooms a couple feet away.

Link walked down the path along the rail until he was directly across from the dancing guy, who was only wearing some sort of cloth around his waist to be decent. Link called out to him but the man ignored him, but he knew that this was the guy he was supposed to be helping. Link looked over the edge of the railing and made a quick calculation. He figured he would be able to reach the mushroom if he jumped, so up he crawled onto the railing, and jumped. He hit the bottom of the mushroom rock and carefully made his way to stand in front of the guy, who began his sad story.

"I am no longer part of the living….My sadness to the moon…I haven't left my dance to the world…I am filled with regret. (Translation) I am disappointed, oh moon. I have died! Oh, I planned to bring the world together and stir it into a giant melting pot with my dance! If only I had taught my new dance to someone…."

Link watched him dance for awhile longer before he realized what he had to do. He pulled out his ocarina and played the song of healing that the mask salesmen had taught him, after all he had been the one who said that it would heal lost spirits.

As the notes of the song echoed around the area, the dead dancing guy locked eyes with Link and continued dancing for awhile before he finally spoke.

"Spread my dance across the world….Train its follower…(Translation) I have taught it to you, now make it into a popular dance craze!" He handed Link a mask which held the magic of his dance moves before speaking again. "I am counting on you. (Translation) I am counting on you." The dancing man burst into blue flames and then vanished from sight.

Link looked around a bit and then sighed, thinking that getting all these masks was going to be a long ordeal if he had to deal with people like this guy all the time. He carefully made his way down the side of the stone mushroom and then dropped down to the ground. He moved through the snow and up the path that lead back to the main ground of the area. He walked down the path and then back into North Clock Town, stopping in front of Ilarie and just looking at her in silence.

"…..You can now help the Rosa Sisters." She said gesturing towards West Clock Town.

Link turned away from her without a sound and made his way to West Clock Town where he found the sisters. He didn't even say anything to them as he stood in front of them and put on the mask he had just received and began dancing. The sisters stopped practicing what they had been working on and just watched him. Once they had memorized the steps they fell in behind him and danced with him. When they had completed the dance a couple times through they knelt in front of him and spoke.

"Thank you for teaching us those steps. You are our master!" They said together before they stood and began clapping. "Master! You're so cool!"

Link blushed and waved goodbye to them and walked away, pulling off the mask as he went back to North Clock Town where he found Ilarie still standing in the same place as before.

"You have done well Link; you are done for the night. There is only the hand in the toilet you can help and then Madame Aroma. If you go and speak with her after ten in the morning, she will ask something of you, and if you agree, she will give you another mask. After you retrieve that mask, you are done for now until you complete the next temple. I will find you again after that to help you along the way." Ilarie said as she bowed to him.

"Should I go straight to the temple then tomorrow?" Link asked her, kinda sad that she was going to be leaving him also.

"No, it would be better for you to return to the first day before you go to the Mountains to make sure you have enough time to complete everything you need to, it will also be a long process, but you will do fine." She said with a smile looking down at him.

"Thanks a lot Ilarie, will I see you around town?"

"No, I have other matters to attend to. Time does not affect me, so I have other things to do. Good luck Link, I shall see you again." She said and then turned around, walking out of the Northern Gate.

Link watched her go and once he couldn't see her anymore, he turned around and went back to the Stock Pot Inn, sneaking in the way that Miki had shown him. Moving down the hall he went into the bathroom where the hand he had met before popped out of the toilet, waving in the air as it spoke.

"Pa-Pa-PaPaper, please!" Link handed him the Land Title Deed he had gotten earlier that day and the hand gave a thumbs up as it continue. "Yeah!" It grabbed the paper and disappeared back into the toilet with a sigh of relief. "Ho! You saved me….Thanks."

Link smiled as he walked away from the poor hand and moved back to the second floor. He walked into the last room which the performers had. He asked if he could stay there and they gave him a bed. He curled up on the top bunk of the furthest bed on the right; the one Miki had always used, and fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

Link awoke to the sound of rain hitting the glass of the window that was next to his bed. Rolling over her looked at the clock that was in the room and realized that it was already ten in the morning. Groaning some he slipped down the ladder and moved out of the room. Walking down the hall he smiled at Anju when she passed and moved down the stairs and out the door. He turned around the corner of the Inn and moved up the stairs and walked over to the buildings that lined that back of the square. He walked into the mayors residence, which was a cute little entrance with two doors and a desk in the center with a secretary. Link walked up to the green haired girl and greeted her.

"Welcome," She said, "Do you have some business? The room on the left is the mayors room…It sounds like they're having some kind of meeting, I think. The room on your right is the drawing room and it's also Madame Aroma's office."

Link thanked the girl and moved to the room on the right. The room was very comfortable, with a fire burning on the right wall, along with a book shelf. There was a couch on the left where a Zora was sitting, and next to him on the far wall was a large chair where Madame Aroma was sitting with a table and tea next to her. Link walked over to her and smiled to the Zora before introducing himself.

"Oh dear, are you on a field trip? …Or are you the expert person-finder I hired?" Madame Aroma asked but never gave Link a chance to answer. "Yes, yes, yes. I say, you have the face of a pro. The characteristics of the person I want you to find….yes, yes, I know them. The person I want you to locate is my son, Kafei. You know him don't you?"

"Um sorry Madame I don't." Link answered honestly.

"….You don't? Really? He disappeared about a month ago. It's terrible! I'm so very worried…I can't get food down my throat, and I've lost five pounds. You haven't anything ,though? Oh, dear…Well? Could you look for him?"

"Of course."

"Oh my, of course. You are an expert. Well, I'm counting on you!" She gave Link a mask that looked like her son and then ushered him out of the room. Link walked out of the mayors residence and looked around. He really wanted to get the next dungeon done, but he had promised to help. He moved to West Clock Town and went to the bomb shop to buy one of the bomb bags that were now stocked for ninety rupees and then stepped outside again. He stood there thinking about all the people who need help again and began to wonder if he should put the temple on hold a little longer.

"You go back in time; you can help everyone later once we get some more work done." Tatl said as if reading his mind.

"You're right." Link admitted. He pushed aside all other thoughts he had and pulled out his ocarina. He played the song of time and they were pulled back to the First Day once more.

* * *

**_A/N2:_** Ok so in the next chapter I'm going to be using the language known as Scottish Gaelic in some parts. What is said in that language won't change the meaning of the chapter, but some cases it will be funny. You CAN NOT find an online translator that will work, so if you want to have the translations of what is said, you will have to either email me with the request and I'll send it via private msg or give me an email address. If you are not a member of this site, you'll need to send me an email I can send it to or ask someone else for the translations. Note: any email address will be discarded once the translations have been sent, I will not keep them.


	6. The Lullaby

**_A/N:_ Ok sorry it took so long to get this chapter up and it's not even that long. Two days after I got home from University I got my wisdom teeth out, and for any who has had that done, you know you don't feel up to doing anything for awhile, then I had to unpack everything, and now my parents have me raking out huge yard all by myself, and my bf gets off work at 5 most days so time is hard to find. Even though it's short, I hope you still enjoy it :)**

"Up here! Take a look at this! I bet if you had a weapon that was strong enough, one shot from it could pierce right through this! Well, it might take two shots…" Tatl said as she pointed out a large piece of hanging ice over a blockade of ice that blocked the path that lead from Termnia field to the Northern Mountains.

Link looked at the ice for a moment before pulling out his bow. He had taken money out from his bank account in Clock Town and had purchased bombs and arrows before making his way towards the next dungeon. Knocking an arrow he let it fly, striking the hanging piece of ice. It shook as part of it was struck away, and after a second arrow the ice piece fell and shattered the ice under it, freeing the path.

Link made his way up the path and found himself on a snow covered path, all around nothing but a white sheet. As he stepped closer to the snow he noticed that in one place it was flying up. Taking out his sword he moved slowly towards it and then out popped a blue Tektite. Slicing it with his sword he made quick work of the spider like thing and continued up the path which turned to the left slightly, and again he ran into another Tektite. He made short work of it having numerous encounters with the creatures before and turned up the path again to be blocked by a bunch of large snow boulders. He looked at them for a moment before he pulled out a bomb, placed it next to the snow and then ran off.

The bomb exploded, taking the snow boulders with it and opening Links path. Once it was clear to go Link climbed up the couple of ledges when he noticed that it had started to snow. Once he was back on the main path he had to take out yet another blue Tektite and then found a sign which read: _'Mountain Village ahead. Beware of blizzards and deep snow. Gorons should be able to break the snow boulders easily.' _Link walked around the sign and up the trail where the snow was getting deeper and then entered into what the place called a village. It looked more like a barren wasteland to Link. There was only one house there, and everything was covered high with deep snow. Moving into the area Link noticed a Goron stuck on a ledge shivering, and was about to make his way over to him when someone called out to him, or at least he thought they were calling out to him.

"Madainn mhath! Ciamar a tha sibh an diugh?"

Link looked around to the house and noticed that someone, or something, was sitting on the lowest ledge wrapped up in a blanket.

"Excuse me?" Link said as he walked over to it.

"You are not from around here?" The girl asked as she shuffled down lower on the edge of the roof top.

Link couldn't really tell what she looked liked. She had a red cloak wrapped around her tightly and pulled all the way up to her nose, which was shaped like a beak. The hood was also pulled down low so he couldn't even see the color of her hair, but he could see that her eyes were a soft brown with a tint of green to them.

"No, I'm not from around here." Link answered her as he gave a warm smile, wondering who she was since she was obviously not a Goron and really had no reason to be up on the mountain. "I was going to see the Gorons and find the temple around here, but can you tell me where it is? It would save me some time."

"Chan eil, Gabhaibh mo leisgeul-A bheil a'Ghàidhlig agaibh?" The girl asked as she jumped down from the roof and sunk into the snow.

"I'm sorry, but I don't understand you." Link said as he walked over, grabbed her hands through the cloak and helped pull her out of the snow.

"Tapadh leibh. I am sorry, I can not help you with what you are asking. You need to go see the Gorons, I can take you there, but we may not be able to get in." She said as she shook the snow from her cloak and began to walk around the cabin. "Tigh! Tigh!" She said and continued on her way.  
Link looked at Tatl who shrugged her shoulders and Link didn't really have an option but to follow the odd girl. They moved up another path and then entered into another wide open area. There were two paths that broke away from the platform that they were on, one leading higher, the other leading down into what Link thought would have been a lake in the summer time. There were two large islands in the center of the lake, bridges attached to them so that people would be able to cross over the water to make it to the other side where another entrance lead to yet another area.

Link and the girl stepped forward but Link noticed the snow was shuffling again. He grabbed onto the girls arm to stop her just as the Tektite jumped out of the snow. The girl gave a small gasp and stepped back. Link stepped around her and stabbed the creature in the eye, taking it out in one shift motion before turning to look at the girl.

"You should really be careful around here, there seems to be a lot of monsters that hide in the snow." He said as he allowed her to take the lead.

"Monsters are here in spring also, they surprise me when they hide in the snow, that is all." The girl said as she moved across the bridge and onto the first island.

No sooner had she stepped onto the island then a large white wolfos sprung out of the snow. Before Link could even take out his sword the girl gave a small scream and ran as fast as she could across the island and the other bridges.

"Is e mo chreach-s' a thàinig!" She cried as she ran into another beast but she simply ran around it and through the cave that was at the other end of the islands.

Link again just followed after her, and had to wonder what it was that she was yelling. The wolves were too busy watching her run to notice Link, and he too managed to slip by them.

They entered out onto the top level of a bunch of houses and Link assumed that this was the place that was the Mountain Village and not the small cabin they had just seen. The two walked towards a Goron that was outside shivering and smiled to him as they walked over the frozen bridge of the houses.

"Its cold…" The Goron said as he stood there rubbing his arms and shivering. "Being the Gatekeeper in this cold is h-h-hard. Do you want to enter the Goron Shrine?"

"Tha." The girl said, and Link nodded his head.

"Then I'll open the door with a Goron pound. I'm going to close it right away so it doesn't get cold inside, so hurry up and get in. Are you ready?" The Gatekeeper curled up into a ball and then slammed into the ground and Link could hear a door opening underneath them. "The door is already open. I'm going to close it right away so hurry up!" The Gatekeeper said.

"Down." The girl said and grabbed Links' arm. She pulled him off the edge of the path and they landed in front of the door. She pulled him inside as the door closed behind them and they were assaulted by the crying of a baby.

Link flinched as he covered his ears against the crying, the sound echoing around the stone cavern. The place was actually rather nice. They had glass ceilings that kept the snow out of the area and there was a ramp that lead up the left side which lead to the throne room as far as Link could tell. On the ceiling was a large chandelier which had the faces of Gorons on the large stone holders, but it was still at the moment.

Link and the girl ran up the path that lead to the throne room and entered to see a small baby Goron sitting on the throne crying his eyes out. They walked up to him and tried to calm him down, but the kid only kept crying.

"Waaaah….henh. uwaaaaah….Daaaaaaady, daaaaady…H-hunh….I'm cooold, Daaaady!" The kid cried, and Link couldn't take it anymore.

He grabbed the girls arm and tugged her back down the ramp and then back outside, shaking his head as he moved.

"Argh, what an annoying sound, I pity the Gorons if they had to listen to that for long." He said as they walked around the outside of the Gorons Shrine.

"But he is lonely, he misses his athair." The girl said with a soft voice.

Link looked at her and then stopped and slapped his forehead.

"Ah! Excuse me, I was completely rude, my name is Link." He said as he held out his hand to her with a smile.

"'Se Shiana an t-ainm a th-orm." The girl said as she took his hand and shook it around the cloth of her cloak.

"So you're name is Shiana?" Link asked to double check that he had understood correctly what she had said.

"Tha." Shiana said as they continued to walk around the outside of the Goron shrine. "Owl." She suddenly said.

Link looked up and sure enough there was an owl standing on the post, and owl he had met before.

"Hoo-hoot! So we meet again Fairy Child. Well, it seems you may have the strength to change the fate of this land as I had expected. But the road ahead is even more challenging. Many trials await you. Please watch over these Gorons around you. Their land is doomed to be smothered in snow and ice forever. It will become a land where no living thing can survive. Without courage and determination, you surely will collapse from the extreme conditions….But if that courage and determination burns bright within you, then that's another story…So, will you proceed?"

Link nodded his head yes and then the owl continued babbling on.

"Hoo-Hoot! You are a child of many strengths! Well, perhaps you do have enough strength to change the fate of this mountain after all. I shall take to the air now, flying towards that shrine across the way, so follow behind me. Do not be daunted by appearances. Instead, let your feelings guide you, and the true path shall open before you. Are you ready? Follow behind me!" the owl took off and flew across the gape that was between the land they were on and a shrine that seemed to just be floating in the middle of now where.

"You should stay here." Link said to Shiana and then turned to follow the owl. He wasn't too worried about the fact that there didn't seem to be anything to land on from the land to the shrine, the Shadow Temple had had something of the sorts before.

Link waited until the owls feathers stopped in mid air and then jumped to the same area, his feet hitting something solid each time he followed the feathers. When he reached the shrine the owl looked down at him and began speaking again.

"Hoo-Hoot! I have certainly been assured of your courage and determination. From here on, you must not be fooled by appearances. You must rely on your feelings….Now, enter the shrine. Something that will aid you in your quest lies within. Use that item when returning from here." The owl gave a small nod of his head and then took wing again and left Link standing there.

Link entered into the shrine and looked around, but there wasn't much to be seen. There were a couple large boulders here and there; some bunches of bushes, and then a chest sitting in the center of the room. Link carefully entered deeper and then opened the chest, still expecting to be attacked at any second. When he opened the chest he pulled out a Lens of Truth, and he smiled as he flipped it over in his hand.

"Now how in the world is this going to help me here?" Link asked himself and laughed as he walked back out of the shrine. He used the Lens of Truth to jump back to where Shiana was waiting, and apparently talking to someone.

"Tha mi' n dochas gum bi i grianach am maireach. 'S docha bhi mi a'dol dhachaidh." Shiana was saying as Link came to stand next to her.

"Um, Shiana….are you talking to someone?" Link asked as he looked around at the empty air in front of her.

"Tha, gu dearbh. See, look to the ground, shadow there." She said and pointed down in front of her a little ways.

Link looked down to where she was pointing and took a step back. Sure enough there was a shadow floating there with no owner to it. Looking back up to the empty air, Link felt the power of the Lens of Truth build up, and once his vision had tinted red, he could see a Goron floating in the air in front of them.

"Ah…..sir?" Link said as he took a step slowly towards him.

"……… Can it be?" The Goron asked looking down at Link. "Are you able to see me? If you truly can see me, then follow behind me….." The ghost of the Goron took off and Link and Shiana followed after him.

The ghost lead them around the Goron Shrine again, leading them back up to the main ground level and then brought them all the way through the lake area and then out into the Cabin area without saying another word. In the Cabin area there was a small, deep pound where the water was open but when a couple ice burgs floating around. The ghost flew upwards at this area and over the ledge of a very high cliff, which Link could now see had bars running along it so it could be climbed. Stopping at the edge of the ice burgs, he looked around for a means to cross since they were just a bit too far apart for him to get anywhere. Shiana on the other hand simply gave a large leap and made her way across them, turning around to wait for Link on the other side.

Link gaped at her, having no idea how in the world she could have made such large, but still elegant leaps. Shaking his head he pulled out his Deku Mask and turned into the scrub, hopping across the water to the other side and then changed back into a human. He was waiting for Shiana to say something, but nothing came forward about his just changing into something else, and he simply climbed up the side of the cliff, Shiana following behind him. Once they made it to the top they saw yet another shrine and made their way in. The shrine was also pretty bare except for a few tall pillars here and there, and a large tomb set in the back, which was where the ghost was.

"The soaring one said the one who could see me would be arriving soon…" The Goron Ghost said as the two walked up to him. "It seems that it turned out to be true. I am Darmani the Third. The blood of proud Goron heroes runs in me. This feels strange for me to say, but when I was alive, I was a renowned warrior and veteran. Yes…When I was alive….But alas….I am now dead." He said and slapped his hand over his face, and then hunched over. "I was fine until I marched off to Snowhead by myself, hoping that I could drive off a demon. It had been wreaking havoc on Goron Village….Then the blizzard at Snowhead blew me into the valley…..And now….Here I am….How infuriating! As I am, I can only watch as Goron Village is slowly buried in ice….I may have died, but I cannot rest. So, you can use magic? The soaring one also told me that you are able to use it….I beg you! Bring me back to life with your magic! If it is beyond your power, then I beg of you to do this for me instead…..Heal my sorrows. Any way that you can do it will suffice….Please….heal my sorrows."

Link looked up at the poor Goron in front of him and shook his head, feeling so bad for the guy. Without saying anything he pulled out his ocarina and played the Song of Healing that had helped a previous wondering spirit find rest.

"What a soothing melody…My sorrows are melting away into the song." The Goron said as the notes echoed around the cave. There was a bright flash of light and then the ghost was gone, only a mask of the face of a Goron remained, and the mask fell to Links feet as the Darmani's voice called out one last time. "I leave my undying feelings with you….The deeds I accomplished while living are carved on my grave. You should read it. For the Goron Village….I have asked your assistance….."

"He was very brave Goron, I have often heard of his great deeds, but now he has left you his soul in order to help the others, we should hurry and find the elder so that we may at least sooth the others by getting his son to stop crying." Shiana said.

Link turned to look at her and nodded his head as he looked around the tomb. The area they were standing in looked as if water had once taken up most of the space, and Link scratched at his head. Walking around the tomb he noticed places where he could grab onto and pull if he were stronger. Putting on the Goron mask he had just received, he transformed into a Goron and then pulled the tomb back. It moved with ease and soon hot water strung up from beneath it, filling the small area. Putting some in a bottle just in case they would need it later, the two left and made their way back down to the cabin area. Walking back towards Goron Village, they remained quiet as they looked around.

"Link, your fairy is found something." Shiana said and pointed to where Tatl was hovering above a large snow boulder.

"What did you find Tatl?" Link called from the Island once he had gotten rid of the wolfos.

"I don't know, it seems there's something under this snow, Link come down and check it out." Tatl said as she hovered above the snow boulder.

Link and Shiana slide down to the ice and made their way over to the boulder. Link pulled back his arm and punched the snow, and gasp once it had fallen away. Frozen in the ice was another Goron who had to be the village elder and the crying kids father. Link pulled out the bottle of hot spring water and poured it over the ice, melting it in moments.

"Hunh? What was I doing? Ah! It's already this late?! I must hurry!" the Elder said as soon as he was unthawed and looked around. It took him a moment to notice Link standing there, and then his eyes went wide. "Hunh?? Oh! You're Darmani!! But you're supposed to be dead! Am I hallucinating? Maybe this is also the doing of Snowhead's magic power….Hmmph…I've been made a fool of! But…that's impossible. I refuse to flinch. If I can see past the illusion, you'll vanish in an instant!" He said and waved his hands in front of Links face.

"Elder, your son has been crying this whole time looking for you, he needs you." Link said as he held up his own hands in front of his face to try and fend off the crazy old Goron.

"…..What? My son is crying because he misses me?? Why do you know that? My son misses me…Ulp! Forgive me, my child! Your father has work to do! Darmani….Be you a ghost or a figment of my imagination, I no longer care. If you feel pity for my crying son….then please quietly sing my son to sleep with this song I am about to play on my drum. It is the very same melody that was often played for you when you were young." He pulled out his drum and played three notes before he stopped and looked down at his drum. "….Huh?...Let me play it once more." Again he tried, but again he only got three notes out. "Umm..It's no good! I can remember only the beginning! I'll just teach you the beginning." And so the old Goron taught Link the first three notes and Link played them back on the set of drums that he got with the Goron Mask. "It's not that I forgot it. It's just so cold I can't play very well….At any rate, I am counting on you."

Link and Shiana gave a small bow of their heads as they turned away from the elder to leave him do whatever it was that he had to do and made their way back to the Goron village. This time they didn't need the gatekeeper to open the door for them, Link simply curled up into his own ball and hit the ground, opening the door himself. They made their way back up the ramp that lead to the throne room and walked up to the crying kid. The other Gorons that were around him looked at Link oddly, not seeming to believe their eyes as to who was standing in front of them. Link ignored their looks and pulled out his drum and played the first three notes of the lullaby. The kid stopped crying and looked at Link before he spoke.

"That song….That's the song daddy always plays for me before I go to sleep…I'll sing the next part." The kid stopped crying and stood up, folding his hands behind his back as he sang the rest of the song. Link listened and then copied the notes on his drum, the notes echoing around the room.

"Mmmm….Its just like….daddy's…..right….. beside me…. Zzzzzz." The kid fell fast asleep, and as Shiana and Link looked around the room, they realized that the rest of the Gorons had also fallen asleep.

"Well, at least they won't notice the cold as much now that they're sleeping, they can get some rest and when they wake up the evil shall be gone from Snowhead and spring will once again return to the mountain." Link said as he smiled at Shiana.

"Yes, and now I can take you to the Snowhead. I could not before because I did not know how to put asleep the giant who causes the blizzards, but now you have the lullaby and we will be able to get by him." She said as she turned around and moved back towards the outside.

"Wait, there's a giant?" Link asked as he followed after her, wondering that perhaps there was more then one way to get into Snowhead temple and avoid the giant. It wasn't that he was afraid; he just didn't like giants all that much.


	7. Snowhead

**_A/N:_ Ok so I still have trouble following a deadline but at least I'm only a day late on this one. For those of you reading, I hope you don't mind that I don't really write the whole Snowhead chapter in, truth be told, I really don't like that Temple, I don't seem to like any of the Zelda's fire Temple's. I hope to get the next chapter up by June 15th, if I don't, well I don't know when I'll get it up because that's the day I start work. Anyway, enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

Link stopped and stared at the huge snow structure ahead of them. Snowhead was a mast ice prison in Links' point of view, there was a narrow path heading up to a main platform of the mountain like island, with nothing but the deep black depths of nothingness all around it. Once to the main land, there was another circular like snow bridge that ran in a circle around the structure itself, all the way up to the mouth of the cave. The cave itself was extremely tall, and the top spiked with large icicles. The path just to get there had been treacherous enough. It had been a long path from the area with the cabin with huge leaps in between the paths so that Link had to curl up as a Goron and pull himself to pull force, which was also a means of a weapon since spikes extruded from his body when he was going at his max speed. He had made the leaps with his speed hitting ramps, he had no idea how Shiana had done it. She had stayed behind him through the trip, and yet she still stood next to him now.

"Tha e glé fuard." Shiana said as she shivered beside Link.

Link had to agree with her though; it was on the cold side. There was a heavy wind that blew from the cave of Snowhead, though oddly it stopped every couple of minutes and then started to blow again. Around them a more normal wind blew, carrying snow with it.

"It is odd how the wind from the cave is so much stronger then the wind coming from the other directions, and it only always blows this way, towards the path." Link commented.

"It is giant that does that." Shiana replied pointing towards the cave. "He is hidden from eyes that are not worthy to see the truth."

At the mention of being able to see the truth, Link focused the energy of the Lens of Truth to that area. Through a slight hazy red vision Link understood what she meant. There was a giant Goron sitting on the cliff in front of the cave, taking deep breaths of air and blowing it over and over again. No one else would have been able to see it since they couldn't see things that were hidden in secret. Link smiled to himself as he pulled out his set of Goron drums and played the lullaby he had learned only moments before.

The giant Goron came into view and slouched over slightly as his eyes closed but then sat up straight again. He almost fell asleep three times before he finally curled up into a ball and rolled over the side of Snowhead, shaking the ground as he hit the bottom so far below.

"Walking would be a better thing to do then going very fast on these narrow paths, I follow behind you." Shiana said making a very good point.

Link slowly started walking along the path, large boulders of snow falling down, and he simply punched them to pieces, keeping both himself and Shiana from harm. When they reached the bottom of Snowhead white Wolfos appeared, but Shiana pulled on his arm and forced him to follow her up the path that lead to the cave without hurting the monsters. All along the path they did the same thing, Shiana walked behind Link and Link took care of the snow boulders that came rolling down at them. Finally they made it to the cave entrance and Link complained as soon as they walked inside.

It was a very small room with a small dais in the center and large ice peaks that went from the very side of the dais upwards and slightly around it like fingers. A huge block stood in the way to a path in front of them with ice spikes blocking the way, but what bothered Link was the small white creatures that showed up with glowing red eyes, exactly like the black ones he and Mikado had fought in the Swamp Temple.

Link quickly took care of the small white creatures, broke the ice in front of the block and pushed it out of the way as a Goron. The block fell into a hole that was in the middle of the small pathway and then they entered into another room. A white Wolfos appeared before him but Link gave it two punches and it burst into blue flames. The new room they had entered was also small but had three doors. The one in front of them was covered in solid ice, the one on the left was locked by a lock and chains, so they had no choice but move to through the right door.

"Link, look, fairy!" Shiana said as she pointed into the room.

Link looked around at the area they had come into and knew that this temple wasn't going to be as easy as the forest one had been. They had come out onto a platform, a bridge leading from the other end across the room to the left, to another opening with stairs; though the bridge was broken half way through. There were two other ledges on either side of the bridge with Freezards blowing chilling air over the bridge so that crossing it would be difficult. Under the bridge was a large stone pillar where the fairy was being held in a bubble in a crack, and further down was a shallow lake of lava.

Link nodded his head and told her that he would get the fairy after they crossed the bridge. Since the floor was slippery Link was able to gather enough speed to reach his spike stage and he flew across the gap in the bridge, also avoiding the breath of the Freezards. When he uncurled himself and turned around Shiana was right behind him. He looked at her for a moment and shook his head, having no idea how she was able to cross the same spaces as he without him seeing.

Taking off the mask Link burst the buddle of the fairy and after putting on the fairies mask, pocked the fairy. He noticed that the hair of the mask was still glowing and looked around. Not seeing another fairy Link turned back into a Goron and rolled of the edge to land on another smaller ledge next to the lava. From the vantage point he could see that the other fairy had been under the platform they had been standing on before. He took off the mask again, burst the bubble with an arrow, put on the fairy mask, pocked the fairy and then turned back into a Goron. He rolled across the lake of lava, climbed up a ladder that had been next to the door they had entered through and then rejoined Shiana on the other side.

They now had two options, there was a set of stairs that lead upward across from them and then there was another door to their left. Link told Shiana to stay where she was and made his way up the steps. The room he entered into had two levels. The first level was pretty bare with only a dais in the center, but he saw a fairy to the right side of him and collected her before leaving the room again, not seeing a way up to the second level which had a Freezard and a small pathway around the room. When he rejoined Shiana they moved through the other door, which turned out to be a mass of complications.

The first floor was a bunch of paths and hard stone in the center. There were four doors, three of which were covered by ice, and across the way there was another room which was sealed off to the area by bars. Walking to the center of the room onto the hard stone the duo looked up. There were three levels above them, another mass of pathways that crisscrossed, but all of them broken in the center so that it would be impossible to cross. Link looked down at the stone beneath his feet and sighed.

"I bet you anything that we're going to have to someway get this platform to lift up so we can access the other side of the rooms up above." He said to Shiana.

"If we must we must." She answered. "It will be easy though, I play in here as a little girl all the time, I know way around…..tha mi a'smaoineachadh."

"Alright," Link replied, "If you say so, then lead the way."

Shiana lead the way across the platform to the only door that wasn't blocked by ice, they entered into a room where there was another two levels, snow on the floor, and blocks that had to be moved around.

"Oh this is going to take forever!" Link complained, but got down to work anyway.

* * *

"Finally!" Link said as the two stood in front of the boss room door.

"Temple was annoying, has changed since last time I came through here." Shiana made her own comments, looking at Link out of the corner of her eye, hoping he wasn't too mad at her.

She had tried to lead him through the temple with as little work as possible, but she had run into more wrong turns that she cared to admit. They also had had to back track a number of times in order to collect all fourteen of the lost fairies, something else that Link hadn't been too happy to do.

Link unlocked the door and pushed away the chains as he opened it. The two stepped into the room and stopped, looking at what must be the boss. It looked to be a large mechanical bull with an almost human face and beard, which really creeped Link out. It was a huge creature, about eight times bigger then his Goron form. At the moment though all was calm, being that the boss was encompassed in ice.

"He no looking so tough." Shiana said as she stood in front of him with her hands on her hips. "It look like this cave go all away around the entrance in a circle, running bull probably."

Link had to agree with her, the whole area looked like a cave with the walls and ground made out of dirt and stone. The ceiling had large stalactites hanging, and they didn't look too stable up there to Link. There were also large green pots scattered around the room. Link stood in a square notch in the cave wall where the entrance was, but other then that the walls swooped away from them on either side, turning away from them to form a circle.

Shiana continued to stand in front of the boss and tap her foot as if she were waiting for him to awaken. Link pulled out his bow and a fire arrow he had found while going through the dungeon. He knew why Misty had liked playing with her arrows so much, it was fun melting things with the power of fire. Knocking the arrow Link raised it and shot the ice around the boss. Slowly the ice began to melt and the boss slowly moved his head around before lifting his head up and roaring, breaking the small wooden wall that had been next to him as he bent his head down and charged at Shiana.

"Na ith mi! Na ith me! Na ith me!" She cried as she ran from the boss and leaped in the air.

What happened next made Link gape at her, wondering how in the world he hadn't noticed everything before. As Shiana leaped away her cloak flew outwards; the end catching on the horns of the bull. Fearing she would be strangled by it she undid her cloak and allowed it to fall away behind her, revealing her true self. She was literally an angel in disguise. She had the body of a human, slender and the colour of ivory, but large white wings extended from her back. She had glossy dark brown hair that fell to her waist, her clothing wide bottomed pants and a strapless shirt. Another odd thing about her though was that she had a tail like a very large cat, her face seeming to be that of a feline also, being more of a snout and sharp eyes. When she landed next to Link all he could do was stare, and she simply shook her head.

"Link, no time for this," She cautioned. "Give me bow and I strike him when he goes past while you directly attack him as Goron."

Link reacted just out of habit as he looked at her, handing over his bow and changing into the form of a Goron. He waited until the bull charged by and was slowed by an arrow fired at him before Link rolled out and broke into top speed and rammed into the bull multiple times with his spikes.

They had been right about the room being circular, and Link was starting to get bored with rolling around and hitting the bull. Suddenly though a bolt of lighting that had come form the head of the bull struck him and he went flying over to the side.

"Damn thing." Link muttered as he got back into a roll and soon caught up with the ragging bull.

Link knew that the other boss in the swamp had been much harder to defeat then this one. It was true that the more the bull was struck the more Link had to avoid: lightning blasts, bombs, and the stalactites that fell from the ceiling. Shiana was helping also, every time they passed her she shot the boss with an arrow and slowed him down just enough so that Link could get a few extra hits on him. Soon enough though just as they passed Shiana again the boss let out a roar and swerved to the side before moving back the other way and running into the cave wall, sending tons of boulders down on himself, effectively sealing him away again. With the boss down Shiana moved to join Link as he turned back into a human and stepped into the blue portal that had appeared that lead them back to where they had first met the first giant.

Again a giant was singing a lonely song, standing far off in the distance though they could see him more clearly then they could have the other one. Tatl flew out to the edge of the platform they were on, but didn't go far because of the odd green shaded clouds, and called out to it.

"W-what exactly are all of you?" She waited until the giant cried out to her and slowly repeated what she had been told. "G…u…a…r…d…i…a….n….s. Guardians? So…….you're protective Gods? That's why you're in the temples…..But….Why are all the protective Gods….? No!...Wait! Are you listening to me? Wait!" Tatl called but it was too late. The guardian disappeared and they returned to their original world.

When they landed down Link smiled and looked around, looking at green grass and the flowers that had come up.

"Yay!" Shiana said dancing around. "Spring has come! Oh, but we have to bring fairies back." She said and turned to Link.

"Don't worry about that, you go on ahead and I'll go bring the fairies back." He said and moved back towards Snowhead.

He made his way quickly along the path and then entered out into the area with Snowhead. He turned his head to see the large Goron that had been causing all the hard winds sitting on one of the small island like plateaus just staring out into space. Link ignored him for the moment as he moved up the path and around the bottom of Snowhead and entered into the fairies cave. He moved to the edge of the fountain and all the little fairies moved away from him and combined in a flash of green light to reveal a Great Fairy with green hair.

"Oh, wise young one! I am the Great Fairy of Wisdom. Thank you for returning my broken and shattered body to normal. As thanks, I shall enhance your magical power." She opened her arms and Link was surrounded in a green light, feeling himself grow stronger. "Come see me whenever you are overcome by weariness." She finished and vanished in a flash of green light as she laughed.

Link turned around and made his way back down the path, but stopped to talk to the big Goron for a moment before continuing on.

"What in the world have I been doing this whole time? Why am I sitting in a place like this?" He asked no one in particular.

Link shook his head at the poor fellow and continued back towards the Goron Village. Just as he reached the large lake with the two islands however he heard someone call out his name. Looking up to the left, up a couple steep hills to a flat platform was Shiana waving down at him. She was standing with the Elders son next to a large boulder blocking the entrance to something. Changing into a Goron he rolled his way up to them and smiled down at the kid as he looked up at Link.

"Ah, Darmi!" The kid started. "Now that it's nice and warm out, I'm much, much better. Even if my daddy isn't right beside me, I won't be selfish and cry. So…now that spring has come, the Goron Races should be staring soon. But….But this rock is in the way, so I can't get in to see the race…And spring just started to…I was so excited….but there's nothing I can do….." He gave a great sniff and then started bawling his eyes out again. "I hate it! I hate it! I wanna see it! I wanna see it! I wanna see it! I wanna see the race!"

Both Shiana and Link flinched back at his loud sobs, but Shiana smiled down at him and petted his head as she spoke.

"Worry not; I know how we can move this rock. We be back soon, worry not." She told him and then nodded her head for Link to follow.

"Big bomb place near Goron houses, you big enough to handle it." She said as she lead the way across the lake and down the ramps along the Goron houses to a cave opening in the side of the cliff on the left side.

They slide down to the bottom where another large Goron was sitting and Link gave him a small wave as Shiana stood in silence.

"I'm the Goron who sells the Powder Keg, the most famous product of the Gorons." The large Goron started. "Want a Powder Keg?" He asked and continued when Link nodded his head. "Powder Kegs explode with powerful blasts and are very dangerous….until I have tested you to see if you can use them properly, I can't let you use any on your own. Will you give it a try?" Again Link nodded his head. "If you can destroy the boulder that blocks the entrance to the Goron Race track near here….using the Powder Keg I'm about to give you, then I'll approve you to carry them. When the Powder Keg begins ticking faster, it means that it's about to explode. Try to blow up the boulder blocking the Goron Race track entrance without the Powder Keg exploding on the way. There's a sign near the race track, so keep an eye out for it. When you've finished come see me." The Goron finished and then tossed a Powder Keg at Links feet.

Link grabbed the Powder Keg and moved over to the ramp they had slide down, tossed it up to the next flat level, and then rolled up after it. Shiana flew ahead a little ways and watched him as Link carefully moved up the rest of the ramp and then out into the area of the Goron homes again. Together they made their way up and around the buildings and then back out onto the lake. They carefully made their way around the Wolfos that appeared and then began to move up the ramp that lead to the Goron Race Track. Shiana watched the fuse of the Powder Keg so that Link didn't have to worry about it. When they reached the top he set the Powder Keg down next to the large boulder and then pulled the little Goron away so that he wouldn't be struck by the rocks that were sure to fly. The trio watched as the Powder Keg finally reached the end of its fuse and exploded, reducing the boulder to rubble.

"Way to go Darmi!" The little Goron said. "That was cooool! C'mon! If we don't hurry, the race will start. C'mon! Hurry!" The little Goron said as he ran into the Race Track.

"We may as well join the others and watch." Link said looking to Shiana.

"Yes, I don't think you should race today though, you went through too much, you need rest." She said as she moved in front of him and into the Race Track.

Link watched her go as she entered and then followed after her. He was greeted by the Elders son who asked if he wished to race, but he declined the offer explaining that he was, in fact, too tired to race that day. The three of them took up position to watch the race and settled down among the other cheering Gorons.

"Shiana, where do you come from?" Link asked as the race started.

"Far away, originally. I come here after my parents die, with a Goron. Since then I live here and go and come as I please. I am old enough to leave now, go back home where I belong, I know the way. Before I could leave, winter came and I could no longer fly through the storms. Now that spring has come, I will leave tomorrow, party tonight though, but I still try to leave early enough once the sun is up." Shiana replied as she watched the racing Gorons.

Link looked at her for a couple more moments before he also turned his attention back to the races, though his mind drifted. He really didn't realize that the world could have been so big outside of Hyrule, but he had stumbled upon Termina, and then there was the place where Misty was from, and now yet another place where Shiana was from. He didn't like to admit it, but there was no chance of finding Misty, once he was done helping the people of Termina, he was going to turn around and go home.

Link didn't actually watch the race, but when someone won he went over and gave his congratulations and then everyone left the Race Track, heading back to the Goron village. Everyone moved inside but he went around the corner, leaving Shiana in the mass of Gorons. He went back to see the big Goron as he had asked, and as he slide down in front of him in his cave, the Goron smiled at him.

"It looks like you managed to succeed!" The Big Goron said. "Knowing your skills, I feel fine letting you handle Powder Keg on your own. It was bad of me to put you through such a dangerous test. I want you to take this as my apology. Powder Kegs are very volatile, so you can only carry only one at a time. If you shoot them with an arrow, they'll explode as soon as they're hit, so be careful." He gave Link another Powder Keg and then waved goodbye.

Link went back out into the main village where he could hear music coming from inside the buildings. Moving up along them and through the main door, Link stood there and smiled as he watched the Gorons celebrate. There was dancing, singing, drinking, and other party games he had never seen before. Finding Shiana in the crowd he moved over towards her, and realized she was telling a story to a bunch of Gorons in that odd language of hers.

"Thig am Faoilteach le stoirm. 'S bithidh sinn a-staigh teann. Thig an Gearran – s' sinn a' gearan Gu bheil an geamhradh fhathast ann. Thig am Màirt leis an t-sneachd, 'S bithidh sinn 'dol fodha gu glùn. Leis a'Ghiblean, thig an t-earrach Cho fad' an dùil. Thig a'Mhàigh le gàire 'S na smeòraich a' seinn anns gach géig. 'S an t-Òg-mhios cho grianach (Chan innis mi a' bhreug!) 'S ann an Iuchar thing samhradh 'S na làithean fada ciùin; Ach an Lùnasdal mu thràth Tha am Foghar a'tighinn dlùth. Thig an t-Sultuin 's an Dàmhair, Dà mhìos a tha seamh. Ach tha cuimhn' air a'gheamhradh 'S na làithean 'fàs searbh. Thig an t-Samhainn le reòthadh 'S an Dùbhlachd le gruaim Ach bidh sinne blàth aig an teine 'S an geamhradh fad' uainn!1" Shiana ended to a round of applause from everyone who had been listening to her.

When she spotted Link she excused herself and moved over to stand next to him as she looked around at the party.

"It will be a very fun night, lots to do and people to enjoy with." She said as she smiled at him.

"That there is, that also sounded like a very interesting story, what was it about?" Link asked her as they moved around the room.

"It was just small story about the months and what they bring; I thought it would be nice, spring has finally come here."

"Well I think it sounded very nice as I said, even if I didn't understand a single word you said." Link answered and the two laughed.

They made they're way around the room talking to the different Gorons, Shiana stopping every now and then to tell another story in her odd language, they ate, drank, danced, and over all just had a good time. It was reaching the early hours in the morning, Shiana and Link were sitting not far from the throne room, Link wobbling every now and then with this dazed look in his eyes.

"What's wrong with him?" A passing Goron asked.

"Tha an deach air!" Shiana said laughing, the Goron joining in with her as soon as he processed what she had said.

"What's his problem?" Link slurred as he watched the Goron roll down the ramp that lead to the rest of the room.

"Nothing Link, no worries! Night of fun!" Shiana said.

She watched him for a couple more moments before he eventually rolled over into a ball, and all one could hear coming from him were snores. She sat awake for a couple moments longer simply looking at him before she curled up next to him and closed her eyes.

"Tha gaol agam ort, Link." She said softly as the party began to wind down and she was able to fall asleep.

* * *

Link awoke the next morning with a throbbing headache. He groaned and rolled over only to find a glass of water in his face, held by a Gorons arm.

"Thank you." Link said as he sat up and drank the whole thing down in one breath. He handed the glass back to the Goron and looked around for his friend.

"Hey, where did Shiana go?" He asked the Goron.

The other Goron sat down and pointed to a piece of paper next to Link. Link picked it up and realized it was a letter from Shiana, so he read it out loud:

"'_Tha mi duilich, Link, ach tha mi a'dol dhachaidh. Dh'innis mi dhut mu thr__àth bha mi a'fàgail gl__é tr__àth an diugh. Tha laithean ci__ùin an t-earrach a-toirt a'gheamhraidh as mo chuimhne. Tha mi n'dóchas chi mi rithist sibh, 's mise do charaid. Sealbh ort Link' _…. I have no idea what this says at all!" Link complained as he rolled back over onto his back and held the letter up in the air.

He noticed the Goron look at him oddly, but he cleared his throat and looked at the letter sideways as he spoke.

"It says that she's sorry but she's gone home……she's forgetting this awful winter……and she hopes to see you again and Good luck……why did she call you Link though Darmi?" The Goron asked sitting straight again.

"She couldn't say my name so she gave me that one." Link answered quickly as he sat up again, having forgotten that he still looked like a fellow Goron. "I have to go; I'll be gone for a long time, say goodbye to everyone for me." He told the other Goron as he got up and left the building.

"Well that sure was interesting…" Tatl said as she floated around him as he changed back into a human.

"Yeah I guess, I'm going to miss Shiana too though, and I probably wont see her again since after these three days I keep starting back to are over I'm going back home."

"She was an odd one though, ah well, lets get back to the first day, maybe we'll run into Ilarie again and she'll have more for us to do."

"True." Link said as he pulled out his ocarina and played the song of time, bringing him and Tatl back to Day One.

* * *

1--No credit for this story, it was taken from my Gaelic textbook.


	8. The Ranch Part 1

**_A/N: Sorry this is so late everyone but most of you know my story, thanks to those who have had such wonderful patiance with me. I had to call in sick yesterday because there was no way I could work, so I had time to play through the game and make notes. Today I was on the road heading out of the province, so I had time to type it all up, sorry if there's mistakes or something doesnt make sense, I'm still really sick. As some of you will notice this chapter is shorter then the others, but I decided to break it up into two parts because it would have been way too long otherwise._**

"Ilarie?!"

"There is no need to shout Link; you will only cause people to stare at you."

Link turned around to see Ilarie sitting on the edge of the ramp leading up to the Clock Tower entrance. As soon as he and Tatl had shown up on Day One, once more in front of the tower, he had expected to see her right there in front of them waiting to tell him where he had to go next to find some new masks or to help people. When she hadn't been there he had grown worried and thought that maybe she had been wrong and that she would be affected by time and not remember who he was.

"Come; let us return to the Stock Pot Inn so that I may tell you where you need to be at this moment. You have at least three days of work in front of you, but there is no great need to hurry just yet." Ilarie said as she stood and made her way through the arch way to the Inn.

Link followed after her with an odd sense of lost, but after a moments thinking he decided it was just the fact that he was meeting so many people and he had to go through meeting them all over again every three days with only Ilarie, who vanished all the time, and Tatl who remembered him.

They made their way through the door of the Stock Pot Inn, even though it wasn't open yet, Ilarie seemed to have acquired a key that let them inside. They moved through the hallway in silence and down to the kitchen where Ilarie took a seat on a crate and simply folded her arms and stared at Link.

"I do not even know where to begin with you." She said as she rested one elbow on her knee and brought a hand up to prop her chine as she continued to stare at him. "Since you have now gained the authority to use the Powder Kegs you can open the Milk Road to the Ranch. I can count of at least five masks that you can acquire now just because of this one simple thing. You can also aid five people if you manage your time right and get to where you need to go on time."

"But that seems like an awful amount of work, we can't afford to loose another three days," Tatl started. "I know we keep repeating these three days, but I want to get going!"

"What if I told you in order to reach the next Temple you still need to go to the Ranch?" Ilarie said and when Tatl didn't say anything she turned her attention on Link as she spoke. "And you know that dear Link will not be able to leave someone in need, so you may as well just do as I say. I would also like to remind you that in the end you will need all these masks I'm sending you out to get. Trust me."

"She has a point Tatl, we may as well face the truth and just do as she says, it would just be easier for everyone." Link said and turned his eyes back on Ilarie. "Ok, so what do I need to do exactly?"

"First you need to go to the Bomb Shop and purchase a Powder Keg from the Goron in the corner, mind you do not forget to look like Darmi when you do so otherwise he will not sell it to you." Ilarie started. "Then you need to exit through the South Exit and head towards the Swamp, turn right before you get there though and go down that path, use the Powder Keg to blow up the boulder that blocks the way. When you get on the Ranch speak to the little girl there, she will ask for your help. While you are there, there is a building with small chicks there, the owner is sad because he believes he will die without seeing the chicks mature to roosters, play your ocarina with the Bremen Mask on and they will mature. After that I want you to go to the house Mikado showed you in the Southern Swamp and break the curse, make sure you make it back to the Ranch in time to help the girl though."

"And then?" Link asked as he shifted his weight from foot to foot, ready to go.

"Come back here and get some rest, there will be plenty more work to do on the Second Day, you will need what little rest you can get. I will be here when you wake around noon, we will have lunch and then I'll send you on your way again." Ilarie said and then paused a moment as she thought. "In all everything should take you up to the night of the Third Day, maybe, you may be able to get things done sooner depending on how fast you work on the third day, but then you can move onto the third Temple."

"Great," Tatl started again, "So can we go now?"

"Yes you can go," Ilarie said, "Just try not to forget to do something because you need to get these things done before the third Temple otherwise you'll have wasted some valuable time."

Link nodded his head and waved goodbye as he and Tatl took off. They made their way to West Clock Town and Link took some rupees from his bank account, swearing one day he would figure out how his money stayed there and how the bank owner still knew him even though the three days were always repeated. Turning around they made their way into the Bomb Shop and he turned into Darmi and approached the Goron in the right hand corner of the room.

"Oh! Of all places!" The Goron started, "You're a Goron, so you should be able to carry a Powder Keg, right? So, won't ya buy a Powder Keg for fifty rupees?"

"Sure" Link said, and handed over the rupees and pocketed the Powder Keg.

"Powder Kegs made by my instructor are extremely powerful. Come back and see me if you run out."

Link and Tatl left the store and made their way down the path towards South Clock Town, Link pulling off the Goron mask as they went. They had to once again deal with the guard who kept calling Link a child and then apologizing once he had seen the sword. Walking out onto Termina Field the duo headed towards the swamp, though this time they took a right once they reached the hallowed out log. They made their way down a path which had two other paths breaking away from it. Down one Link could see what looked like another smaller ranch; and couldn't see anything down the other. Coming up to the giant boulder that blocked the road, Link put on the Goron mask, and without even talking to the worker who was chipping away at the boulder, dropped the Powder Keg in front of it. Everyone ran back from the Powder Keg as the fuse burned lower, and after it exploded, completely clearing the path, Link pulled off the mask and made his way down to the Ranch.

The Ranch was very large, green grass sloping off in all directions. In the far distance, Link could see a barn and a farmhouse. Moving down that path, he hoped to find the little girl that Ilarie had told him about. When he got closer he could see a little red headed girl running around outside the barn with a little toy bow, but his attention was caught behind her in a small shelter next to the house.

"L-look!" Tatl cried as they ran over to the shelter. "Isn't that your horse?!"

Sure enough, little Epona was held behind a gate, looking very much alive and healthy contrary to what the Skull Kid had said. Running up to the shelter, Link reached through the gate and rubbed her nose for a moment before he turned around and walked over to speak to the little girl.

"Hey, who are you?" She asked, "I'm Romani. I was given the same name as the ranch. What's your name?"

"Link." He replied, a little anxious to just get his horse back.

"Link? That's a nice name, but…..How about…..Grasshopper? That's the name Romani gives you. See, you're wearing green clothes, and you patter about when you walk, so Grasshopper it is!"

"Uh, yeah, hey, what were you just doing right now running around with that bow?" Tatl asked her.

"Romani was practicing…For tonight…. Tonight… They are coming….. They… They come at night….. every year when the carnival approaches…. They come riding in a bright, shining ball. A whole lot of them come down….. And then…. They come to the barn…. My older sister won't believe me…. But Romani must protect the cows! Hey, Grasshopper, I'm recruiting for an assistant right now! You're a boy, won't you try?"

"Sure." Link answered wondering if Ilarie had lost her mind sending him to help this girl.

"Great! Now that's the spirit, Grasshopper! Ok then, I'm going straight into my strategy! They'll appear all over the ranch…. They'll aim for that barn and approach it slowly, so hit them with arrows so they can't get in! You got that? And you mustn't leave the ranch! Grasshopper! Let's practice right away! There are ten ghost-shaped balloons in the ranch, so hurry and burst them all. If you take over two minutes, you're out. Are you ready?"

Link nodded his head and Romani unlocked the gate holding Epona so he could ride around on her through the practice. He sat on Epona's back, patting her as Romani went about the field placing the balloons. On her go, Link ran Epona around the ranch, bursting balloons with the arrows Romani had provided him with. Under the two minutes he had been given, Link burst the last one and moved back to stand by Romani.

"You two work perfectly together! I'll teach you Romani's horse-calling song to you, Grasshopper. Now you two keep getting along, and go practice some more!" Romani sang Epona's song to Link, a song he already knew very well, and then she went on. "When your arrow hits these, they burst into nothing, but the real ones will keep popping up! If they get in the barn, we lose! They run away at the first light of the sun, so we'll have to keep fending them off until then! The operation starts tonight at two. I'll be waiting in the barn. Don't be late!"

Link promised her that he wouldn't be late before he mounted Epona and began to leave the ranch, before he got very far though Tatl flew in front of his face and jingled.

"Hey Link, aren't you forgetting something? Or someone rather? Like that crazy bird guy?"

"Oh yeah." Link said and turned around and rode towards the building at the back of the ranch that had Cucco's painted around the bottom.

The area was also pretty large with different coloured fences around the pen, one frail guy sitting under a tree in the middle of it, little baby cucco's running around the place. Link approached the guy and said hello before the guy looked up at him and began talking.

"I heard it all from my gramps. Says the moon's gonna fall….With somethin' that big, it's sure to take this ranch down with it… Hahhh…oh, well. My only regret is that I won't get to see these guys in their prime as roosters."

The guy went back to his moping and Link looked around. Putting on the Breman's mask, Link began playing the march that ran through the power of the mask and began walking around the Cucco's pen. The little chicks all began falling into line behind Link, and when they were all together; they all magically grew up into Roosters. The guy looked over at Link and actually smiled.

"I don't really get it, but just seein' these with the crest and all… I don't have regrets about anythin' anymore. I'm perfectly satisfied. Here…. You can have this from me…" The guy handed over a bunny hood, and Link had to smile, the thing really was cute. "Yeahhh… These guys are all roosters. Heh, heh."

Link waved goodbye to the guy and he and Tatl left, heading for the Swamp House. He left the Ranch and heading left once he left the Milk Road path, he rode down the path that lead to the boat cruise area. He stopped when he arrived and cursed under his breath as he looked at the poison water. He had forgotten about how going back in time changed everything, which meant that the octorks would be in the way. Dismounting Epona, he looked around through the small bushes and managed to come across a couple arrows. Changing into a Deku he hopped across the lily pads, stopping only to collect a deku stick which he could use to burn the web that sealed the door of the house shut. When he reached the octork that was blocking the way he changed into a human on a flower that could support his weight and then killed it with an arrow. Continuing on his way he quickly reached the house and burned away the web and stepped inside.

The first room was just as he remembered it, a simple square with neat little designs on the door, the rest of it just a plain grey. There was a little white dog that was running around, and he watched it as he moved towards the door. Suddenly something dropped down next to him and cried out.

"Ah! Help me! I am not a monster!" It cried as Link backed up to get a good look at it.

The thing defiantly did look like a monster. It had the body of a skultulah except one arm was that of a human. Its face had some hair on it and a weird looking white and red mask with one eye. When Link didn't attack it, the poor thing continued on.

"The spiders curse….it made me this way…I beg of you..In here…Find them all….the gold ones….The cursed spiders….Defeat them….Quickly! And when you defeat them….don't forget….the spider token…it contains the spiders spirit…If you lift the curse….I'll teach you…..something good….Hurry….Please….This is awful…."

Link promised the thing that he would go through the house and get all the spider tokens, and then moved through the door.

The first room he entered into was a large square. A ramp ran down from where he was standing into a large square pool of water. Large pillars ran around the room holding up the second floor that just ran around the very edge of the room; another large golden statue in the center. From different areas of the room Link could hear the scratching of what had to be the golden spiders.

"Ok Tatl, help me out here and find where they are so we can get through here faster." Link said looking up at the fairy.

Tatl nodded to him and flew around the room, pointing out where the spiders were: behind jars, on the pillars, in the water, and then took him to a square patch of dirt on the wall.

"What I am supposed to do here?" Link asked looking back at the fairy.

"Well, I bet if you found some bugs you could get them to dig the spider out, bugs around here aren't afraid of much."

"Where am I supposed to get bugs?"

"Well there's probably some back at the entrance where that creepy guy was, there were two rocks, if you pick them up there's probably some underneath.

"Why do I suddenly get the feeling that I'm going to be doing more backtracking then what I should be?" Link said as the two turned around.

* * *

Link had been right in his statement that he had to do more backtracking then what he would have liked. It turned out that he needed magic beans in some places in order to collect all the spider tokens, and for the beans he needed spring water, and he only had one bottle to carry it in. He had also needed more bugs throughout the whole building. All in all, he had wasted more time then what he liked, according to Tatl, it was eight at night by the time he had collected the last spider token.

Moving throughout the house, they made their way back out into the main entrance to see the crazy creature had been telling the truth before. Instead of the weird looking spider, a man now stood in its place. He was dressed in green pants and a green, sleeveless shirt, though he still had the odd red and white mask with the one eye on. When the guy noticed Link he threw up his arms and cried out.

"Ohh! I've been saved! I thought that I was going to die…. You see awhile back, someone told me I could become rich and he gave me this mask. He said the instructions were inscribed somewhere in here, but when I went to look, I was cursed! If I had known it would be such an ordeal, I never would have taken it. Here! Take it! It's yours!" The guy said and handed over the odd mask to Link. "I've had enough of this… As soon as I get it together, I'm going home."

Link gave the guy a small smile and then turned around and left, heading back to the boat cruise area where he mounted Epona and made his way back to Clock Town. Leaving Epona outside the gates, he made his way back to the Stock Pot Inn, sneaking in by the means of the Deku Flower Mikado had shown him before. Moving down the steps and heading left around the corner, he made his way down to the bathroom. After he had relieved himself, he made his way further down the hall and into the kitchen where he helped himself so some bread and soup, taking a seat on one of the crates to eat his meal.

"You know, I don't know how you can eat that stuff, it doesn't smell all that appetizing to me." Tatl said as she settled down on a higher crate.

"Well, I've learned not to be too choosy when it comes to what I eat. When I can get a free meal, I take whatever it is so long as its somewhat edible, besides, I'm actually starting to like Anju's cooking, its better then mine, not as good as other peoples, but still good."

"Yeah, ok…."

The pair stayed in the Stock Pot Inn until close to one in the morning before they left and left Clock Town, making their way back to the Ranch. Link left Epona in the shelter she had been in before and made his way into the barn. He didn't have to wait long before Romani showed up, and she looked relieved to see him as she spoke.

"It's almost time… You take care of things outside, Grasshopper! Ok? Whatever happens, do not let them get into the barn! They'll come from behind the barn too so watch out."

Link nodded his head and left the barn, going to stand on the crate that was far enough away from the barn to give him a good view. Taking out his bow he took out an arrow and prepared himself. At about two thirty a bright orange light suddenly fell from the sky and moved around the field of the ranch, weird looking creatures appearing where the light touched. They had oddly shaped purple bodies, no legs, long black arms that glowed, and eyes that were round and shown light out in front of them. As one they began moving towards the barn, and Link prepared for the battle.

The monsters didn't move very fast, in fact Link lowered his bow at first as he waited for them to get closer so he could get a better shot. Once they were on the move though he had enough on his hands to keep him busy. He moved from the right side of the barn taking out two there, then moved to the left where one was trying to sneak into the barn from behind the house. He was so busy with keeping the two sides clear of the monsters that he forgot that they were coming up behind him also. He jumped as one passed right by him, completely ignoring him. He shot the monster in the back and it vanished. Turning around he gave a soft groan seeing all of them so close and quickly took as many as he could out before turning back to face the barn. He stayed there for hours, until finally the first ray of light broke over the ranch. The same orange light that had brought them in the first place came to reclaim them. Once they were gone, Romani come out from the barn.

"We did it….we won. Thank you! Thanks to you, the cows are giving thanks, too! Here's Romani's thanks. When you drink it, put your hand on your hip and take a big gulp like we do here on the ranch!" She handed Link a bottle full of milk. "It's almost time for my sister to get up, so I have to get back to bed… See you later….Little hero."

Link gave a small wave to Romani as she went back into her house before he turned around and climbed up on Epona. He was exhausted, having forgotten how hard it was going for days without stopping. When he was older and had gone through the temples back in Hyrule he had been fine, but his kid body wasn't use to such abuse. The trio slowly made their way back to Clock Town and Link left Epona outside the gates again. As the giant clock chimed the sixth hour in the morning, Link dragged his tired feet up to the Stock Pot Inn, where he once again entered through the balcony door and then moved down the hall. As he passed the second door, which was normally occupied, Tatl tugged on his shirt.

"Link, look." She said pointing at the door.

Link looked up and saw a note with his name on it, attached to it was a key. Opening it up, he quickly read through and gave a sigh of relief as he opened the door with the key.

"Hey, what does it say?" Tatl nagged him,

"Ilarie somehow booked this room for us and left the key so we can sleep here." Link answered as he closed the door behind him.

He took no notice of the room, only of the fact that there was a bed to the left of the door. Pulling off all his equipment he sunk down onto the bed and fell fast asleep.


	9. The Ranch Part 2

"Link…" A soft voice said through the haze of sleep, "Link, it is time to wake up, you have much to do yet."

Link groaned as he slowly opened his eyes and blinked away the sleep induced film over them. Lifting his head off the pillow he turned his head and saw Ilarie kneeling by the bedside. Opening and closing his mouth a couple times to moisten his tongue, he sat up and ran a hand through his hair as he spoke.

"What time is it?"

"It's a little past two in the afternoon." Tatl said flying up next to Ilarie.

"What!?" Link shouted as he bolted from the bed, being mindful not to hit Ilarie, and dashed about the room collecting his things. "Why didn't you wake me up earlier? I thought I was supposed to get some more things done starting at noon?! I'm two hours behind schedule!"

"Please calm down Link," Ilarie started as she stood and folded her hands together in front of her. "I have decided that you have plenty of time to do what I want you to get done these three days. You have plenty of time to do one task before you must return to the ranch, and then I have two for you to do tomorrow and then you may carry on your way to the Western Ocean."

Link slowed down on his packing and slowly nodded his head and sat down at the little table that was in the room. Looking around for the first time he saw two beds, one on each side of the room; the table he was sitting at; and a fire place in front of the table. All in all the room wasn't too bad, but it could have used some new paint and wooden planks in the right hand corner, he could actually hear voices coming through that part of the wall.

"Alright then," He said turning to look at Ilarie as she moved to sit across from him, "Where do I go now?"

"Now that you have Epona back with you, I want you to go to the Eastern Canyon. There is a trail with fences that Epona can jump over and some live bombchu's along the way. When you reach what seems to be an impassable cliff, turn to the right, there will be a ring of rocks there. Use the Lens of Truth that you acquired at the Northern Mountain to look at the center of the ring of rocks, there will be a man sitting there, a soldier actually, I want you to give him a red potion and he will give you a mask."

"Alright, and then I go to the Ranch before six tonight right?" Link asked and then got up at Ilarie's nod. "Alright then, I'll see you later, bye."

Link waved goodbye and then walked out the door, leaving it open so that Tatl could follow since she seemed to be trailing behind some. Once Link was gone Ilarie slumped against the table, resting her head on her hand that she had propped up on the table.

"Ilarie are you alright?" Tatl asked floating near her.

"I am fine Tatl; I am just a little tired, thank you for asking." Ilarie said as she straightened up some and looked at the fairy.

"Alright, well I should go catch up to Link." Tatl said as she took one more look at Ilarie before she left.

Tatl caught up to Link just as he was entering West Clock Town as he made his way to the Trading Post where he bought a red potion and then made his way out to the Eastern Canyon.

Calling Epona, he mounted her and rode out towards the canyon. The path was all dirt and it was lined by tall pillars. Running all around were live bombchu's, but Epona could easily out run them. When they entered into the canyon, Link saw the fences Ilarie had been talking about. Epona again easily cleared them and avoided the live bombchu's; jumping over three fences they made it to the cliff and Link found the ring of rocks. Dismounting Epona, he walked over to them and used the power of the Lens of Truth, and there, sitting on the ground in the center of the rocks, was the solider.

"Hi there." Link said stopping in front of him.

"Huh?..", The solider said looking up at him. "Don't tell me….That's…I'm shocked. You're the first person who's ever spoken to me. I've been here for many years, waving my arms around and asking for help, but everyone ignores me and passes me by. It's cause I'm about as impressive as a stone, right?...I'm used to it, though. Ummm…I have a request…Can you give me some medicine that would make even an unnoticeable stone like me feel better?"

Link had to repress a laugh as he pulled out the red potion and gave it to the solider, he really was a sad case, and Link didn't want to make him feel even worse.

"Ah, that,….is that it? ….I feel better, I think….Thanks…. Oh….. here… In gratitude ….." The soldier handed Link a mask that looked like a stone and again Link had a hard time not to laugh, "Now… let me practice standing out…"

As the solider got up Link turned around and mounted Epona again and left for the ranch.

He was a couple hours ahead of time but he didn't mind it too much, he browsed around the ranch and when Romani came out the two of them played with the alien balloons again and he helped teach her how to hold a bow better. Six o'clock came soon enough though and Romanis' older sister, Cremia, came out with a horse and wagon.

"Oh….Good evening." Cremia said spotting Link. "I'm going to town now to deliver milk. Would you like a ride?"

"Sure" Link said and hopped into the back of the wagon.

"That's great. Tonight I'm kind of lonely… I welcome the company." Cremia said.

The two of them made small talk as they rode through the ranch and then out onto milk rode, talking about how Cremias' and Romanis' father had died a year ago, how she was finding broken bottles around and how the cows were all upset, and they even spoke about her friend Anju and how she was supposed to get married.

When they made it out onto Milk Rode though they found the main way was blocked by a gate.

"What? The road…" Cremia started. "Boy, get your bow ready…." She said as she turned the wagon down another path.

They moved down and around the path and pulled up to another gate by the other smaller ranch place Link had seen before, forcing them to go through by there.

"First Milk Road is blocked by a boulder and now… We have to take this detour through ugly country…Are you ready, boy? I'm going to get us through here as fast as I can! If any pursuers come from behind, chase them off with your arrows. They may come after the cargo of milk bottles. Do you understand?"

"Sure." Link said pulling out his bow and arrows.

"Thanks! I'm relying on you. If we can get through here, I'll have a big thanks for you!"

No sooner had Cremia begin to move the wagon through the area when two riders came up from behind, wearing odd hoods and wielding pitchforks on horseback. Link didn't even waste any time, even before they could get to close he shot an arrow at them, forcing them to pull back some. Link didn't watch their surroundings as they went, he only concentrated on keeping the two riders at bay. When they rode too close he would fire an arrow at them and push them back away from the cargo of milk bottles. Before he knew it, they were pulling back out onto the main Milk Rode with not even one bottle broken.

Cremia pulled up to Clock Town where some guys were waiting for her. They unloaded the wagon and she had a quick word with the owner of the milk bar in town before she moved back to stand with Link.

"Mr. Barten was happy to get his first delivery in quite a while!" Cremia said with a big smile. "Thank you… you were pretty cool… This isn't very big, but accept my thanks!" She handed him a mask that looked like a cow hood. "By doing one good deed, a child becomes an adult. That mask is only given to a limited number of adult costumers. It's proof of membership. I now acknowledge you as being an adult!" Cremia gave Link one last smile and wave before she climbed back up onto the wagon and pulled away, heading back home.

Link turned around and moved back into Clock Town, making his way back to the inn. He entered through the main door this time, having a key that could unlock the main door and made his way back up to the room Ilarie had gotten them. When he walked in, Ilarie was sitting on the bed farthest from the door, eyes closed, arms crossed over her chest, leaning against the wall.

"Ilarie?" Link said moving slowly into the room after quietly closing the door.

Ilarie opened her eyes and nodded her head to the other bed, motioning for Link to take a seat. After he did so, she let out a soft sigh and began speaking.

"You have done well Link, you only have two more masks to go before you may return to the first day and move on to the ocean. First of all I would like to explain a couple things, such as the masks you received today. The cow hood will be used after the next dungeon to acquire another mask or two. The stone one you got from the solider though is what you'll really need. It was the power of the mask that made him invisible to others, and to reach the next dungeon you will need to go through an area without being seen, use the power of the Stone Mask to accomplish your goal."

"Well that will help out." Link said as he began to take off his weapons and prepared for bed.

"Indeed. Tomorrow you will go back to the Milk Road, but you will enter into the smaller ranch you saw before and again tonight. There you will meet two brothers, and before you say anything, yes they were the ones who were after the milk tonight. Race them, and you will earn another mask. Also, you will return to the mountain and speak to a Goron that is sitting on a ledge all alone, he is hungry and you will need to go and get some food for him. The food is hidden inside the Goron Village. All you need to do is put the Gorons to sleep, break the jars in the Throne Room to get a deku stick, and then light the torches throughout the main area. Once they are lit the main chandelier will come on. In one of the stone vases that are on fire is some food, simply break them by rolling off the ramp at the top." Ilarie said as she closed her eyes once more. "Now, it is time for bed, good night Link and Tatl."

Link and Tatl returned the good night before they curled up on the bed closer to the door and fell fast asleep.

ↄ∂ↄ

Link awoke around noon the next morning alone in the room. He sat up in his bed and looked over to where Ilarie should have been sleeping, but she wasn't there, in fact there were no signs of her at all. Just as he got up and put on all his equipment Tatl flew in from one of the open windows.

"Hey do you know where Ilarie went?" Link asked as he finished putting everything back on.

"She left early this morning, said she didn't need to be here while we finish things up because she had other things to do." Tatl answered as she flew in under Links hat.

Link paused and looked at the window for a moment before he shrugged his shoulders and left the room. He made his way down the steps of the inn and around the corner, dropping off his room key as he passed the main desk. Exiting the inn he moved down to South Clock Town and made his way out into the main field. Calling Epona, he mounted her and they rode off to the Milk Road, this time though he took the other trail and rode up to the other smaller ranch.

There wasn't much to the area, only two buildings and a gate in front of the track he and Cremia had taken the night before. In front of the gate was a man dressed in blue overalls with an orange shirt, and what must have been his twin standing under a wood canopy next to one of the buildings who was wearing orange overalls and a blue shirt. As Link rode up to the first guy, he looked at Epona and snorted.

"Is that pathetic thing your horse?" The first guy said. "I would've guessed that little thing was a mule for sure, ain't that right, little brother?"

"Do you think a horse that pathetic would gallop if you pushed it forward, or run faster if you gave it a pat?" The younger one said.

"This guy is funny!" The older one started. "Why don't you give us ten rupees for a chance to race against us? If you win, we'll give you something nice, kid. What'll you do?"

"I'll do it." Link said, anger rising in his cheeks because of the way they were talking about Epona.

"It's a simple race," The older one continued, "Just go once around the track. If you can beat us to the finish line, you win."

"Hyuh, hyuh. You ready?" The younger one asked.

When Link nodded the two turned and entered into the other building and walked their horses out. They opened the gate and the three of them moved out onto the track. Link could see that it was different from last night, the two guys having put up fences and dirt patches to slow the horses down.

The older brother counted down, and on three the two older riders took off, moving closer together to force Link back some. Having raced someone before back in Hyrule who had used the same trick, Link quickly moved around the younger brother to get onto the inside of the track and pushed Epona forward. The two brothers again moved back towards him trying to cut off his path, but Link managed to keep Epona one step ahead, and cleared the fences while the other two went around them. The whole race consisted of Link trying to keep one step ahead of them and jumping over the fences to avoid the dirt, but all the jumping also tired Epona out and Link noticed that she was starting to slow down some.

"Come on Epona, the finish line is in sight; just hang in a little bit longer so we can win this thing." Link whispered into the horses' ear.

Knowing how badly her owner wanted to win, Epona gave it her all in one last burst of speed, her head crossing the finish line only moments before the other two horses. The three riders came to a halt back out next to the buildings, and Link jumped of Epona to give her a chance to catch her breath.

"I can't believe we lost!" The older brother said, as he got off his horse also and stared at Link.

"Big bro, I wonder if we can give that to this guy?" The younger brother said, holding the horses.

"We gatta give him something. Well, he's a kid, so what could he do with it? It should be fine…." The older brother said as he handed over a mask. It was a hood just like the two guys had last night when they chased Cremias wagon, a dark hood made from old cloth that seemed to make the wearers eyes glow green when worn. "In exchange, you can't tell anyone where you got this!"

Link promised that he wouldn't tell anyone where he got the mask and put it away before climbing back on Epona. Moving at a slow pace to let her relax a bit, the trio made their way out of Milk Road and up to the Mountains. Link left Epona at the bottom of the trail and made his way up, mindful of the monsters that rested beneath the snow. When he made it up to the mountain village, Link looked around for the ledge where the Goron was supposed to be standing on. Looking over to where the path was for Snow Head, Link spotted the poor Goron. As Link moved over to him, the Goron looked down and called out.

"Whoa-oh-oh!! Up here! Up here! I am sorry to bother you from such a high place….But I am very hungry, and I have gotten stuck up here."

Link promised that he would go get something for him to eat and then moved off to the Goron Village. Changing into Darmi, Link opened the door and moved inside. As soon as he walked in he flinched, the little Goron crying his eyes out again. Moving up to the Throne Room Link played the lullaby and was rewarded when everyone fell asleep. Changing back to his own self, Link broke the jars next to the throne and picked up a deku stick.

Using the torches that were lit in the throne room, Link ran out and down the path to the bottom of the room, lighting the torches along the way. Once they were all lit the large chandelier over head came to life and Link watched as the stone Goron heads moved around. Changing back into Darmi he made his way back up to the Throne Room and curled into a ball. Charging up he flew down the carpet and hit the ramp at the end, flying up and breaking one of the stone Goron heads of the chandelier. He turned around and found a slab of some rock on the ground and assumed that was the food he was supposed to collect.

Picking it up, he ran out of the Goron Village and made his way back to the Goron on the cliff. When he got there he threw it up right so that the food landed on the cliff next to the Goron, who Link could hear clearly.

"Th-That's it! It's so good that I dream about it… Dodongo Cavern's finest quality rock sirloin! This is my absolute favourite! Blessed be this meal!" Link could just see the Goron dive at the rock and see small chunks of the rock fly before the Goron started talking again.

"Ohhhhhhh!! My energy has returned to me! I am coming down now. Wait one moment!" The Goron called as Link backed up some. The Goron rolled off the cliff and then stood to look at Link. "Oh! I wondered who it might be. Why if it isn't Darmini! You are…alive?"

"Yeah, people were mistaken when they thought I was dead." Link said in explanation.

"…Yes, I see. That is the reason why you knew my favourite food. Oh, I almost forgot. Please accept this as a token of gratitude…" He handed Link over the mask of a frog he had been wearing on his head before he continued. "It was crafted so well that no one would even think twice if you were to direct the frog choir. I hope that spring will come soon so that I can hear the frogs' enthusiastic performance. Hope as I might, it's still cold. I'm going back to Goron Village…" He finished and then rolled away.  
Link put the mask away and then transformed back into his normal self as he turned to look at Tatl.

"You know, some of these people who give me these masks are really odd." He commented.

"Yeah yeah I know, but Link this is the last thing we were supposed to do, lets hurry and go back to the First Day so we can get going and move onto the next Temple!" Tatl snapped at him.

Link sighed and nodded his head. He wanted to get all this done and over with too, but he was regretting that he was making so many friendships and then losing them all over again, day after day. Ilarie remembered him, but she only showed up when he needed to get more masks, and Tatl was just starting to get annoying and really grumpy. Sighing some more, Link played the Song of Time and allowed himself to fall back and be carried away by time.


	10. Great Bay

**A/N: Ok so here's another chapter, thanks to those who have been reviewing, it perks up my long days some. Sadly I just do not have the hours in the day to write a whole lot, so updates will only be once a month again. I should be able to get Octobers done in time (midterms depending), but I may not update again after that until the end of December because I have papers to write and Christmas exams to worry about. Thanks to all who are reading and I hope you enjoy!**

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"Ok Link, its time to get moving now!" Tatl said as soon as they opened their eyes again and they were back on the First Day in front of the Clock Tower.

Link didn't say a word as he looked around at all the people, still thinking of Mikado as he silently made his way through the town. They moved to East Clock Town where the guard stopped them at the exit for the Ocean. Out of all the exits Link had to admit that this was probably his favourite.

The path leading down to the beach was lined with stone, and a stone railing ran around where the cliffs were. On either side of the path leading down were two fountains. Calling Epona, Link waited for her as she appeared next to him and then mounted her, heading down the stone path. When they reached the sand, lava like creatures he had seen back in the desert in Hyrule sprung out and moved to attack them, but Eponas' hooves put quick work to them. In front of them there were small borders of stone like there had been something built there before, and then a gate that blocked the way to Great Bay.

"Well at least Ilarie had been right when she said we needed Epona to get to the Bay." Tatl commented, looking out from under Link's hat.

They jumped over the fence and made their way down a path that had tall cliffs on either side of it before they made their way out onto the main beach. The area was nice over all: there were two houses to the far left of them, a large house out on the water that was held up on pillars with a ladder leading up to it, two beach towels on the sand under two umbrellas, two boats that were tied not too far away, and then a large cave that lead to another area.

Link rode Epona along the beach, looking up at the sky over the water where a bunch of seagulls were circling in an odd way. He looked down at the water where the seagulls were above and gasped.

"Tatl! There's someone in the water and they look like they're hurt!" Link said and moved Epona down to the waters edge.

Link ran into the surf before diving in and swimming out to the figure. When he got close he could hear them speaking weakly.

"Unghhh…. Somebody…Unghhh…Please…G-gu-hu…. Get me…to shore…" The figure said, and Link realized that it was a Zora.

Swimming around behind him, Link grabbed the Zora and began pushing him to shore. When they reached the shallows, the Zora suddenly stood up and began walking up the beach in a lifeless manner. He didn't get too far though when he stopped and then fell to the sand. Running out of the water, Link ran to the Zora's side and knelt down.

"Hey are you ok bud?" Link asked.

"Uuungh…" The Zora said lifting his head to look at Link. "I am Mikau of the Zora people… guitarist in the Zora band… I think this is it for me… My final message…. Will you listen to it?"

"Of course I will." Link said.

The Zora stood up and pulled out his guitar and began playing his final message. "One! Two! Three! Oh, baby, baby, listen to me! The carnival's beginning soon. We're the ones they're waiting to see. But that girl, our vocalist… She laid some strange eggs, And she's lost her voice, You can't hear what she says. Whoa-oh! In Great Bay now somethin' is a-happenin;. Is it now? Oh! Baby, listen to me. I don't wanna beg. Gerudo Pirates! They stole that girl's eggs. I went to stop the Gerudo Pirates, then pow and bam! I got knocked down, and here I am! Baby! If I die like this… Even if I die… It won't be in peace… That's for suuure! Somebody, please rescue her eggs before the pirates take their toil. Oh, somebody, somebody please heal my soul. That's all…Thank you!" The Zora finished and collapsed on the ground once more.

Link looked down at the poor Zora and pulled out his ocarina, playing the song of healing that had worked so many times before. The song echoed around the bay as the Zora went through happy memories of him and the Zora band before his body slowly disappeared in a cloud of sparkles, only a mask being left behind. Link picked up the Zora mask and took a step back as the ghost of Mikau appeared before him.

"Carve my farewell song on my grave…" It asked. "I'm depending on you to help that singer girl…" The ghost of Mikau slowly faded and then vanished from sight forever.

Link gazed for a couple more moments at where Mikau had stood before turning around and picking up his guitar that he had left behind. Walking back towards the entrance of Great Bay, he moved to the side where the wall of the houses stood and found a large piece of driftwood. Carving Mikau's last words into it, he laid it on the sand and stood the guitar up by it. Link took a moment to bow in front of it, quietly saying a few words and then stood back up again. Looking down at the mask in his hand, he carefully pulled it up to his face. The power of the mask flowed through his veins, and he could feel his body changing to the form of the Zora. Once his skin stopped crawling he looked down at himself. Out of all the forms, this had to be the most fit, the Zora being slender but muscled tone. He looked down at his hand and arms, looking at the fins to his side, too busy to hear someone approach.

"Mikau, thank the goddesses I finally…… You're not Mikau!" A female voice said behind him.

Link turned around to see another Zora standing there and he could barley suppress a gasp. She was probably the most beautiful creature in the world of Termia. She had a small and narrow face with the slick back head fin that he had, though hers was a little longer and she had side fins that draped on either side of her face that reached her shoulders. She was also slender with a muscle tone, though she was smaller then Link in his Zora form. The fins at her arms were longer then Links, reaching down past her knees when she stood still, and they flowed like the finest silk. Her clothing was also more exotic then what he would have expected from the Zoras. The top looked like a long strip of material that had been placed at the back of her neck and then crossed in front to cover her breast and then tied at the back, and a simple wrap around skirt that ended at her knees; both the colour of emerald. The colour of her body itself though surprised him. The usual Zora spots that were normally a duller blue were a socking sky blue on her, the rest of her skin bleach white, her eyes an odd mix of brown and green. Link would have loved to start a conversation with her, but with the glare she was giving him, gave him second thoughts, and the next words out of her mouth giving him no hope at all.

"What have you done with Mikau?" She said, and then her eyes trailed past him to look at the guitar. "You monster! You've killed him!" She said disbelief in her eyes.

"No! Wait!" Link said taking a step towards her, but she turned around and ran full out towards the cave arch that lead to the next part of the beach.

"Argh, she didn't even give me a chance to explain." Link said staying where he was.

"Uh, Link?" Talt said flying around him. "Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but she thinks you've killed the guitarist in the Zora band, if I'm not mistaken, considering the environment here, I would say she was running back to where the Zora's live. If she tells everyone what she thinks you've done, then trying to get into this temple is going to be next to impossible."

"Oh shit!" Link cried as he took off running in the same direction as the Zora girl.

He rounded the corner after the rock arch and looked out into the water. Tatl had been right, sitting a couple yards in the water was a stone structure of a ring with a fish in the center; its tail sticking out with its mouth open on the bottom, serving as the entrance. Without slowing down, Link ran to the water and dove in, his Zora body automatically taking control and propelling him gracefully through the water. Before he got close to the entrance though, a skeleton of a fish came out of nowhere and tried to take a chunk out of his leg. With the grace of the Zora he managed to move around it, but they seemed to be coming from everywhere at once. One of the fish managed to scratch him along his leg as he pulled into the stone ring before he got through the fishes' mouth and into the Zora's domain.

Pulling himself out of the water he walked up a small path and entered into the main area. There was a large sea shell in the center where a couple Zoras were working on some sound equipment, a large body of water surrounding the front of it. Beyond the shell Link could see four rooms with signs above it, and he guessed that was where the band members slept. To the right of him was another path that lead around the area, and he could see another small ramp which lead to another section. Zora's were walking about all over the place, and one walked past him, waving and greeting him as Mikau. Link waved back and waited until the Zora was out of earshot before speaking to Tatl.

"Well, at least no one else notices that I'm not actually Mikau like that girl did." He whispered to Tatl.

No sooner were the words out of his mouth when he felt a strong hand on his shoulder. He was swung back into the sheltered entrance to the hall with a surprising amount of force, actually knocking him down to the ground. Sitting up Link looked for his attacker, and realized it was the same Zora girl as before. She walked up to him and knelt down, pointing a finger in his face.

"Listen buddy, just because no one else realizes you're not Mikau doesn't mean you can waltz around here. I know you're not him, so you better watch yourself." She said in a hushed voice.

"If you know I'm not really him then why didn't you tell everyone else here?" Link asked a little slowly.

The zora girls' eyes filled with sorrow at his question and she sat back on her feet, arms resting on her legs. She stayed quiet for a moment, eyes looking down at the ground before she finally spoke up.

"I don't want to take even more hope away from the band members. There's been some strange stuff going on around here, and the main singer has lost her voice. Evan has been pretty good at keeping it all hushed up, but people are starting to wonder, and the band has been looking forward to playing at the carnival, it would break their hearts to learn of Mikau's death."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Link said, softly putting a hand on her arm. "I know you may not believe this, but I'm actually here to help. Mikau was almost dead when I found him, and he left me the quest to help the singer and find out what's been going on at the Temple."

The Zora girl looked up at him as he spoke, and he was happy to note that she hadn't pulled away at his touch. She studied his face for awhile as if she was trying to decide whether or not to believe him, but he must have checked out for the next words she spoke.

"Who are you anyway?"

"I'm actually a fourteen year old boy who was looking for a friend and got caught up in some things. Now I'm going around trying to find out what's wrong in the dungeons in the four main areas and to try and stop the moon from falling and destroying everything in three days….Nice to meet you" He answered, holding out his hand.

"……Three days….you're supposed to go through all four dungeons in three days…" She said without looking at his hand.

"Well, I have to go back in time and repeat these three days." Link answered pulling his hand back casually.

"……My name's Tyra." She said looking at him sceptically as she stood up. "Alright, if you are trying to do what you said then we need to get moving, we have a lot of work ahead of us. Mikau did trust you after all to take his form, that means a lot to me, so I shall also trust you. You should go talk to the other band members though before we get going just to make an appearance, Mikau hasn't been here for awhile, it'll make everyone calm down a little."

"Alright." Link said as he got back to his feet and walked past her a couple steps before he stopped and turned around. "Aren't you coming with me?"

"No." Tyra said looking at him with her arms folded across her chest. "I'm no one important, I wouldn't go into the band members rooms. Mikau and I have been friends since we were kids, but he got famous and everyone is always after him no matter where he goes. So I wouldn't have to deal with stuff like that we pretended we drifted apart and kept our friendship secret. So you go on alone, oh, and stay out of the last room, that's Lulu's."

Link gave a small nod to her before he began walking around the edge of the water before the giant shell, moving towards the rooms. As he walked every Zora he passed waved and said hello to him, some of them even stopping and asking when they were going to start rehearsing. He came up with short answers, saying that they would practice soon but he had to be on his way. He made it to the first door and waved a hello to the Zora who was standing in front of it, probably guarding it.

"Evens come by several times looking for you. Have you seen him yet?" The Zora asked him, though moved aside so he could go inside the room.

Opening the door and walking in, Link looked around to take in what the room looked like. There was a small pathway that lead to a small island at the back of the room, deep pools of water on either side of the pathway. To the left there was a small waterfall and a ledge that held another small room which he guessed was his own; under the ledge on the island was a large Zora playing the drums. When Link closed the door behind him and moved into the room, the Zora stopped playing the drums and waved to Link.

"Mikau? Where've you been? Where've you been? I was worried. The concert in town is coming up, but it seems like all the band members are in a funk. I betcha didn't know that, huh? Especially Lulu. I haven't heard her voice in a long time. She's usually in good spirits, too. Ooh! Ooh! I wonder if this is related to the ocean turning all weird… Actually… I know a little bit of Lulu's secret. Do you wanna hear it?" The large Zora said.

"I wanna hear it." Link said as he moved to stand in front of the big guy.

"There's a rumour that the ocean is getting weird 'cause there's trouble off shore at Great Bay Temple. And they say when that happens, something bad will befall the Zora descendant who's been protecting the temple. Do you catch my drift? And lately, Lulu has been looking kind of weird. Maybe Lulu's the…" The Zora said and left the sentence hanging to create suspense.

"Mmm, yeah, that would be something wouldn't it?" Link said, though he didn't wait for an answer.

Link turned around and waved his hand in a form of goodbye and left the room, turning to move to the next door. When the Zora said something about a Zora named Japas Link waved him off and continued onto the next door, knowing that it would be Evan's, the guy who was looking for him.

"Ah! Mikau! What have you been doing this whole time? Evan the bandleader has been waiting for you for a while now. Hurry! Go in! Go in!" The Zora in front of Evans door said and moved to the side so he could go in.

Evans room was much bigger then Mikau's own that he shared with the bands drummer. It had a high ceiling with a large back bone of a fish supporting the ceiling. Evan was playing the keyboard up on a high ledge, large stairs filled with water leading up to him; large spines ran up the back of the stairs creating a kind of railing. As Link walked up the steps he could see that Evan was a weird brown colour of Zora, something he hadn't seen before.

"Hey." Link said coming up behind him.

"Mikau! How was it? Did you get the eggs back?" Evan asked turning around to face him.

"Uh…no." Link said, feeling a little foolish that he had forgotten about the eggs.

"Oh… you couldn't do it, after all. Have you been to see Lulu out in the back by the ocean? Ever since the pirates stole her eggs, she's just been standing out there gazing at the sea and sighing…Mikau! We need those eggs safe so Lulu can get her voice back. We've grown accustomed to life in a peaceful sea…. The only one among the Zora tribe who is still able to go to blows with those wild pirates… It is you, with the blood of Zoran heroes flowing within you. I'm still keeping Lulu's problem a secret from the other band members. They've all been looking forward to our carnival of Time concert. And I can't tell them it's cancelled 'cause Lulu can't sing, can I?" Evan said and turned around, clearly dismissing Mikau.

Link turned around and made his way back out the door, pausing a moment to run his hand over his face. Looking back to the door he had skipped over, he moved back towards it and simply waved the Zora out of the way and entered into the room.

This room was also larger then Mikaus and the drummers, but not by much. This one was just simple, with water running down the walls into a small stream around a sandbar in the middle of the room. On the sand was a desk and a chair, with the bands bass player standing on the desk, playing a couple notes.

"Mikau!! Where've ya been?" Japas said as Link walked up to him. "I'm all like, "Hey, where's Mikau? The concert's comin' up soon!' And now our band leader has pulled a vanishing act--Evans all holed up in his room just writin' songs… And to top it off, Lulu just stands out back starin' at the sea. She doesn't even respond when ya talk to her. If you guys think it's just 'cause Lulu's not interested in me, I'd understand, but I'm tellin' ya, it looks like somethin's really wrong. Is there somethin' you're trying to hide from me? I'm not runnin' an inquiry or anything…. But, look…If we don't start rehearsin' real soon, we're not gonna be ready for the concert."

Japas looked so down and out that he was being left out of everything that Link actually felt bad for him. He looked around the room a little and then shook his head, thinking that he was down out crazy. Pulling out his guitar he looked up at Japas, and hoped to the goddesses that the spirit of Mikau would take over at this point and play for him, since he hadn't the smallest idea of how to play the guitar.

"Huh?" Japas said looking down at Link. "You wanna have a jam session? Try following this phrase I wrote on your guitar." Japas played a couple notes and then stopped to wait for Link to follow.

Link played the last couple of notes, his fingers finding the right strings to play. Japas got excited over the notes and played the next set, Link finishing it off.

"I got it! I got it! I got it!" Japas cried out. "Here I go!" Japas played the notes again and Link followed on his guitar, and the two of them played for a couple moments before Japas stopped. "That's got a good feel to it! Even Evan should like this. But…. He's so proud… He'd resent the fact that we wrote somethin' on our own. I don't think he'd even let the others try it out. Whaddya think we should do?"

"I don't know, maybe we could get someone else to play it." Link mumbled and turned and walked out of the room.

There was a whole bunch of Zora's outside the door and when he walked out they all cheered. Link looked around and gave an awkward smile to the others, and then his eyes fell on Tyra. She gave a small nod of her head and then turned around; walking towards the other pathway he had seen from the door. Excusing himself, he walked slowly after her to make sure it wasn't obvious that he was following Tyra. He moved up the small ramp and turned left past a shop entrance and moved out onto a small plateau next to the sea. He looked to the right and saw Tyra standing next to another female Zora. This one had the same head fin as Ruto had, what looked like two fish around her head, and she wore a blue dress. Link walked over to her and the Zora girl looked up before her eyes saddened and she looked back down to the ground.

"That sad face is trying to tell you something." Tatl said, "….You can see it in her expression!"

"Everything will be alright Lulu," Tyra said patting her lightly on the back, "Come on Mikau, we have work to do, we'll see you later Lulu, we're just going to go see the beavers."

Tyra pulled on Links arm and pulled him out of earshot before she stopped and turned to face him.

"Just so you know, Lulu knows about our friendship, so we don't have to hide it around here." Tyra explained.

"Well that's good to know, but what do we do now? We need to get her eggs back." Link said standing to face the water.

"I know, we're going to do that right now. You probably know how to fight, so I'll just give you some details. As soon as you strike out with your arm, your arm fins will expand and become deadly weapons. You can also concentrate and use them as boomerangs. Also while concentrating while you swim, you can summon up a shield of magic so you can protect yourself from the dead fish in there."

"Well that's good to know now." Link said and then looked back to Tyra. "Are you going to come with me?"

"As Evan said, you're the only one who can actually still fight among the Zora's, I can't do the same things as you either. Females were designed for beauty, not fighting, but yes, I will still come with you, but you're on your own for most of the fighting."

"That's fine, so, shall we?" Link said pointing to the water.

"I guess I'll lead the way since you don't know where you're going." Tyra said, and dove into the water.

Link followed after her and noted that when he first jumped in the water was all murky and hard to see through, but when they grew closer to shore it wasn't as bad. As they swam a couple dead fish came out of nowhere and went to attack Tyra, but a blue ray of light surrounded her and killed the fish. Link did the same as she had when the fish came after him, and he laughed to himself, this method being so much easier then trying to out swim them. When they reached the shore they climbed out and ran through the cave archway, and as soon as they were on the other side, Tyra ran back into the water and dove in, Link following again.

As they swam through the water Link noted that even though he was stronger then Tyra, she was a much faster swimmer. He could also keep her in his sights, but she jumped out of the water a lot and dove back in, twirled around all over the place, just to slow her pace down. They rounded a small gathering of rocks and Link could see small islands off in the distance and another place where they could go to shore. Tyra kept swimming though, through tall pieces of seaweed and then dove out of the water and onto a small platform next to a wall of metal. Link dove out of the water also and stood staring at the wall of metal for a moment before looking to Tyra.

"This would be the Pirates Fortress." Tyra said waving her arm towards the wall.

"And how are we supposed to get in through there?" Link asked.

"We don't go through there; I just wanted to show it to you." She said turning, and dove back into the water.

Link followed her again and when she turned towards the left Link could see a bunch of wooden gates, one of them having been broken by someone before. They swam through it and climbed up a small path of dirt before reaching the top.

"Oh…..boy." Link said as he walked out onto the cliff that over looked the area.

"Welcome to the Pirates Fortress Mikau."


	11. The Pirates Fortress

**_A/N:_ Ok, sorry everyone for taking so long to get this up, but all university students know how life is...especially since I had to get a job. Anyway I'm all done exams now, and I dont have many work shifts left either, like 1-2, so I have more time to write so hopefully I can make up for the lack of writing since September in the next week. Hope you guys like this chapter!**

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Even from the outside the fortress had looked huge, and Link could just imagine what kind of fun they were going to have trying to find the eggs in there. The walls were about twenty feet high in the air from the water, and sunk all the way down to the sea floor. A large solid metal gate protected the entrance from intruders, and Link could see no way to get around it. The fortress itself looked safe enough, but to top it all off, in the large lake of water in front of them, there were also four guards riding around on boats patrolling outside.

"Any bright ideas?" Link whispered to Tyra.

"Actually yes. To tell you the truth Mikau and I had come here often before he had actually tried getting in. Over to the far left is another pile of rocks, on top of it is a lever we need to push down to open a gate that's under the water in front of us." Tyra said pointing to the spots. "Once we're through there we need to navigate our way around through their water system, but I don't know what that looks like very well, we could only send in a seahorse and get a rough idea."

"Alright then, let's get going." Link said and crawled to the edge of the cliff they were on.

They waited until the last guard boat passed them and then dove into the water. The seafloor was littered with all kinds of debris, but Link looked at the edge of the wall instead of investigating what was below them. On the right side he could see the gate that Tyra had told him about. Swerving towards the left side, the duo swam as far below the surface as they could so they wouldn't be seen. As they grew closer to the other pile of rocks, Link could see another vent on the fortress, though this one blew outwards and there was no way to swim in. When they reached the rocks they stayed under water until the last guard went by again and pulled themselves up to the top where the switch was.

"This is where Mikau must have run into problems, that switch is way too heavy for us to push down." Tyra said.

"Yeah, it is heavy, but not too heavy for a Goron." Link said, smiling at her.

When she looked at him in a questioning fashion, Link pulled out the Goron mask and put it on, changing forms in an instant. He climbed up on the switch and pounded it down to the ground, and they could hear the gate opening. Link changed back into a Zora and they dove off the side before the guards got too close, swimming well below the surface again, they entered through the gate area and into a long corridor. Swimming along it they came to another small wooden barrier, though Link ran into it, busting it open. They swam through the opening and entered into a small maze of steal gates, wooden barriers, and blocks. Link moved over to the block, standing on the bottom of the room to be able to pull it. Once he had one block out of the pathway, he swam around to a wooden barrier and broke through it, breaking through a second one right after to enter into a smaller section with another block. Pushing this one out of the way, the two swum around the gates and came to a vent that pushed them upwards.

Surfacing they came into another long corridor room, though this one was only half filled with water. There was a door at the far end, but vents were pushing the water on the bottom and further along the top.

"We'll have to be careful not to get caught in those vents." Tyra said, "And we also need to be careful of those metal spiked balls, those are mines, so we can't walk across the bottom." She said.

Link nodded his head and the two dove back under the water. They were careful to stay about half way in the water, making sure not to hit the mines, but also avoiding the vent near the surface. When they reached the other side they climbed out and walked through the door.

The next room they entered into was hidden from view by the archway after the door, but ahead of them they could see another flooded area with more mines scattered along the floor. They carefully slipped into the water and made their way around the mines to the rest of the room. A large platform sat in the middle of the room, a ramp coming up out of the water leading to the main part. At one end there was a large cage holding crates, a staircase leading upwards on the other end. On the other side of the platform was another flooded area which lead through a closed gate. Moving up the stairs the duo came to another landing. Barrels lined both sides of it, and across the room was another small landing that held a crystal switch; a long grate sliding down next to it, blocking the way to the lower area except below the water level. Link changed back into a form of a Goron and smashed the barrels before turning back into Mikau. Holding up his arms he extended his fins and let them fly out as Tyra had told him to do before. His fins flew across the room and hit the switch, opening the gate. Tyra dove down into the water first, with Link following close behind. They quickly swan around the mines and flew under the gate just as it was closing again.

Tyra let out a stream of bubbles as she sighed as they came into another long corridor with mines and jets of air streaming at the bottom of the half flooded room. Staying at the surface they swam over the jets and around the mines, going around a corner, their feet finally touched down on the floor as they walked up a ramp towards a ladder. Climbing up they came to what seemed to be a dead end. There was a grate on the floor under an opening in the ceiling and a switch which probably activated the water that would flow through it.

"Hopefully we're getting near the end, hop on the grate Tyra and I'll hit the switch." Link said as he moved over to it.

"Hang on Mikau," Tyra said walking slowly over to the grate.

"What?" Link asked a little impatiently.

"Nothing, never mind, we're good to go, just don't hop off the water stream when we get to the next ground level or you'll be blown to pieces." Tyra said standing on the grate.

"Oh…." Link said, as he hit the switch and moved to stand next to her. The switch actually opened a gate that had been next to the switch, revealing another crystal. Link quickly hit that with his fins and they were pushed upwards by a jet of water. They were pushed high above the ground floor, where they could see a door leading to another area. The only problem they had though was that they were surrounded by mines on all sides.

"Follow me." Tyra said and jumped off the water stream, just brushing the chain of one mine and clearing another.

She hit the floor in a roll and once she was out of the way Link followed after her. They moved through the door and breathed a sigh of relief as they came out on a ramp that lead along the outside of the Pirates' main fortress. They moved along the ramp above the boat guards and ran up another ramp and entered into the heart of the fortress.

"Ok….how are we going to get around all those guards?" Link asked.

They were huddled in the archway of the entrance looking out to a full legion of guards. There was a high guard tower in the center of it with seven other openings on different levels. Guards dressed in purple were patrolling the whole area.

"That's where the Queen of the Pirates is." Tyra said, pointing past Link towards the center door past the guard tower. "We need to scope out the area though, so we need to get up the tower and move across the bridge from the tower to the main building."

"Link, just knock the guards out with dull arrows." Tatl said butting in.

"Yeah, I can do that." Link said, pulling off the Zora mask.

"Well….you're a little kid." Tyra commented when Link was back in his normal body.

"Yeah, and that's why I don't understand how I get myself into these things." Link answered as he took out his bow and arrow and began knocking the guards out.

Once the way was clear the two moved across the grounds and up the ladder, moving across the bridge and entered into what seemed like a ventilation passage.

"That stone mask would have helped us if Tyra wasn't with us." Tatl muttered into Links ear, which got her a swat.

They moved down the vent a little ways with Tatle in the lead when she began to shake and dodged out of the way just as a wasp flew by and out of a vent into a large room and into its hive. The three followed the path and looked out the vent into the large room below. There was a large red chair in the center of it where a Pirate dressed all in red was looking down at one dressed in white who was cowering at her feet.

"I've been waiting for you!" the one in red yelled. "And, did you find the rest of the eggs?"

"….N-no. B-But…that's beca…."

"What are you trying to pull here?!? If people hear the great pirates have lost the treasure they stole, we'll become the laughing stock!"

"Yes, b-but Aveil…The sea is strangely murky where we were attacked by the sea snakes…."

"Silence! That's why the Zora's can't send for any help! Now that the eggs are gone, the Zoras should be frantically searching for them. If we don't hurry the Zoras will get to them before we do! There are four eggs here now. Hurry! Go find the other three eggs before the sea snakes eat them!"

"……Understood….." The poor guard said and began to walk away, though she didn't get far before Aveil called her back.

"Wait!!! The Zora eggs are the only clue we have about the dragon cloud floating over the bay….If what that strange, masked one says is true….And if we can get our hands on the treasure that lies sleeping in the temple in that dragon cloud…Then we can spend the rest of our lives living the good life! So get a move on and go find them! Now!!"

"Understood!!" The other pirate said in a much more enthusiastic way.

"Well you have to admit, she does give a very good pep talk." Link said as he looked around the room. "Hey, there's a treasure chest sitting before her throne and I think that aquarium is holding an egg." Link said and then looked at Tyra, taking a step back away from her in fright.

She had her teeth gritted in almost an animal like manner, her hands balled into fists as she looked around the room. Without warning Tyra turned and grabbed Links bow and arrow from him and knocked an arrow. She pointing it through the vent, let it go, and the arrow flew and hit the wasp nest, knocking it to the floor. The nest broke open right in front of Aveil, and the wasp swarmed around her and her guards. The three girls covered their heads and ran screaming from the room.

"Well….that worked." Link said and followed Tyra as she left the room.

They jumped down to the next level which had stairs leading down to the main ground, but instead of going down them they entered through a door, which lead to the throne room. While Tyra moved to stand next to the glass of the aquarium that held the egg, Link moved to open the chest. He pulled out a hookshot and then turned to look at Tyra.

"There's a shellblade in there, how are we supposed to get the egg out without getting it broken by that thing?" Tyra asked a little dismayed.

"I can hookshot myself into the tank by hooking onto the wood on the ceiling above it and then I can scoop the egg out with a bottle." Link said.

Tyra nodded and Link made his way into the tank. When he landed in the water the shellblade went after his feet, but he swam around it and turned back into Mikau. Lowering himself to the bottom of the tank he dodged the shellblade again and then scooped the egg into a bottle before hurrying back out and down next to Tyra.

"The egg doesn't look very healthy, how many bottles do you have?" Tyra asked taking the bottle from him and putting it away in a bag she had picked up from the room.

"I only have one more besides that one." Link answered.

"Alright, we'll go find one more and then we'll take them to the research lab that's out in the main bay." Tyra said as she turned and walked away.

"Do you know where the others are in here?" Link asked as they stood out on the landing from the main building and looked back down at the guards who were still out cold.

"There must be one in each building, though since there's four one has to have two in it. We should try going left and making our way around, it's a good thing you have that hookshot because we're going to need it to get to the other areas by the looks of things." Tyra said.

They moved down the first flight of steps which lead to the left and jumped off, landing on a high walkway which moved around the left side of the main area. They made their way to the very end and then Link, as a human, took out the hookshot, latching on to a post that was on a higher level. They moved through the door that was right behind it, as Link turned back into Mikau, and entered into a room that was filled with barrels. Right in front of them was a line of cannons which hid the view of what was in the rest of the room. Tyra took the lead, still holding the bow, and as they moved around corners towards the other end of the room she took out the only guard that was there.

When they went through the door at the end of the room bars slammed closed behind them. The room was bare except for chains hanging from the ceiling and another door that was on a raised platform with torches on either side of it that was at the other end of the room. The three moved into the room carefully and were stopped by someone calling out to them.

"Halt!" A pirate dressed in green jumped down in front of them and laughed. "It takes courage to come thieving in the Pirates' Fortress! I'm going to love doing this to you!" She said and pulled out two huge scimitars.

"Out of the way!" Link yelled and pushed Tyra to the side as he brought his fin up to guard against her blades. "These ladies are just as crazy as the ones back home." He said and extended the fins on his arms and fought back. Having experience with the fighters already Link made quick work of her and she soon fell to the ground.

"Ugh. Don't think it ends here!" She said and stood up, using a deku nut to blind them for a moment. When they could see again she was gone.

The door up on the dais unlocked and Tyra quickly rushed through it. When Link entered through the door also she was again standing in front of an aquarium with another egg inside with yet another shellblade.

"Hurry Mikau." She said looking over her shoulder.

Link quickly made his way up and inside the aquarium, bottled the egg, and pulled himself back out. He tossed the bottle to Tyra who put it away in her bag and the two made their way out of the exit that was next to them.

They jumped off a small ledge that the door lead out to and landed on the walkway they had been on before they had entered the building. Just as they landed Link could hear the clock tower from Clock Town chiming the sixth hour of the evening. They quickly made their way along the landing and exited out into the front area of the fortress. They dove into the water and climbed up the path that took them back outside. Diving into the water again, Link was hard pressed to keep up to Tyra as she took off towards the marine lab. They dove out of the water and onto the platform that was at the base of the lab and climbed up. As they entered inside the lab, an old man with crazy white hair dressed in white and blue greeted them.

"Oh, you finally came? I've been waiting for you. What about the eggs? I heard there's a total of seven…Hurry! Put them in that aquarium."

As Tyra ran off to the side Link turned to look next to them at the large aquarium that took up one whole wall. Link watched as Tyra climbed up the ladder on the side and walked across the bars on top of the aquarium. She opened both bottles and turned them upside down, the eggs falling out and sinking to the bottom of the aquarium.

"We could only get two this time around, but we're going to go back and get the other two in the Fortress and then we're going to find the other three." Tyra said as she jumped down next to Link.

"Alright, but you had better hurry, those eggs aren't in the best shape." The scientist said as they turned around and left.

"Mikau we're going to need another bottle, we can't go down into the sea snakes caverns twice." Tyra said.

"And why not?" Tatl asked, staying out of Links reach.

"It's way too dangerous, the water is so murky there and sea snakes are one of the most poisonous animals on earth. We'll need a guide to get there once, I know there's a seahorse in the fisherman's house on the shore, but he wants a picture of one of one of the pirates, but we can worry about that latter. If the worms have three eggs we're going to need three bottles."

"Ok," Link said, "But I only have two, where are we going to get a third one?"

"I know where," Tyra said with a mischievous grin. "Now that we have the hookshot, we can get up to go see the beavers, I know they have a bottle, you'll just have to race them."

"Me? Why me? You're the faster one." Link complained as they dove back into the water.

"Yes, but they know me too well." Tyra said as they swam through the water. "I don't think they'll let me."

"Aw come on, I'm sure they will, I just don't feel like I can win against beavers, even if we just have to keep up with them." Link said.

"Alright fine, I'll do it, but you'll have to wait for me at the entrance alright?" Tyra said as they came up out of the water and walked down a pathway that lead to a waterfall. "The beavers live in the cave next to the fall; you'll need to take us up along the side of the trees on the ledges."

Link turned back into his human self and once Tyra was holding onto him, he hookshot his way up and along the ledges, using the trees to grab onto. Once they were next to the entrance of the beavers place Link changed back into a Zora and they moved inside.

The area they moved into was just a small lake, though there was an area off to the right side which seemed like it was a river leading up to the right hand side of the area. There were three waterfalls that fell right across from them, and another one that fell to the left which was the waterfall they had seen right next to the entrance. In the center of the lake there was a very oddly dressed beaver swimming around and around in a circle.

"Haha. Come on Link." Tyra said pulling on his hand and diving into the water.

Link followed after her and as they got close to the beaver, it dove down and landed on the bottom of the lake. Tyra looked at Link and nodded downwards before she dove down to land in front of the beaver, Link right behind her.

"You again? You can't fool me with your green clothes!" The beaver said to Link, and Link looked at Tyra who just smiled. "You want an empty bottle, don't you? You never learn your lesson! Koo, koo, koo. Ok, I'll give you one. But… Only if you can swim through all the rings in the river in under two minutes. So, do you want to try?"

"Let me guess, Mikau had been here before." Link whispered to Tyra as he agreed to the challenge.

"That's right, so I can't get it." Tyra said as she gave him a kiss on the cheek and then swam away to the entrance to watch as the beaver started talking again.

"There's a total of twenty rings. You must swim through them in the right order for it to count. Swim through the rings that flashing. I'll show you the way, so follow me and don't get separated!"

They started up on an alcove behind the waterfalls and dove into the water. Link didn't pay attention to his surroundings as he made his way through the rings, keeping the beaver in sight at all times and only focusing on the beaver. Eventually he noticed that they were going around the outside of a large beaver damn, and soon they were inside after Link had gone through all twenty rings.

"Uh…That was perfect." The beaver said. "That's not good…." He said, and then suddenly a larger beaver fell next to him and looked at the brown beaver.

"Did you call me, little brother?" The blond beaver asked.

"I called you big brother! Actually….."

"What? An empty bottle?" The older brother said looking at Link.

"Yeah….An empty bottle."

"……Don't worry, little brother! To us, empty bottles are a treasure. I can't give you one just because you beat my little brother."

"We just can't give you one."

"I'll give you one after you race once more against me. So, will you try?"

"Sure." Link answered.

"The rules are the same, but this time there are twenty five rings. Don't fall behind!"

Link swam back to the begging with the older beaver and they started from the exact same place as they had before. Link jumped in after the older beaver once he had said go and swam through all twenty five rings, ending up back in the beaver damn in under the two minutes.

"He did it, little brother." The older beaver said to his little brother who was just sitting there.

"Yeah, he did it, big brother."

"There's nothing we can do, little brother."

"……this is a mess, big brother." The little beaver said as he handed Link the bottle.

"We underestimated you." The brothers said in unison.

They escorted Link back out to the main lake where he met up with Tyra.

"Got the bottle." He said as he pulled himself out of the water and sat down beside her, leaving his feet dangle in the water like she was doing.

"Good, now we can take back the other two eggs from the pirates and save the other three from the snakes, and then we can move onto the temple, which is the place I know you want to go."

"How did you know that?" Link asked curiously.

"Mikau would only give his physical appearance to someone who he knew would finish the job he set out to do, which would be to cure the water of the curse that's been placed over it, meaning we have to go to the temple, and for you to promise to do something like that for him means you were already heading that way anyway, right?"

"Tyra, you are something amazing, you're really smart." Link said chuckling.

"Of course I am, I am after all perfect in every way." She said joking and stood up.

The two of them walked out onto the platform that stood right above the pool the waterfall emptied out into. Tyra and Link looked at each other smiling, and at the same time, with no words exchanged, jumped and dove down into the pool far below.


	12. Pinnacle Rock

**_A/N:_ Omg, same day as the last update and here's another one! I really dont have a life right now, I started writing this at 11am and it's now 5:30pm......there's another update as soon as I post this one and correct the other one. =]**

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It was much easier getting into the Fortress the second time around, where they had hit the switch to open the gate leading into the bottom of the fortress, there was a hookshot mark on the wall of the fortress that the Pirates used to gain immediate access to the main area. As Link and Tyra stood at the entrance and watched the guards move about, they also quickly looked for ways to gain access to the other building of the main area. Since night had fallen, they didn't feel the need to knock out all the guards, deciding to take out only the one that was closest to them and in their way from the left building. Once the guard was knocked out they moved silently down the ramp to the left, and hooked onto the hookshot poll that was on a middle height part of the building.

They pulled themselves up on the poll and turned around to hookshot up onto the left hand side where an archway was. Before they went through they looked behind them on a higher level of the building and saw another hookshot poll and made a mental note to go back that way. When they entered into the building they came out onto a long bridge, the bottom of the room was so far below they couldn't even see it. Link knocked out the guard that was standing behind a barrel by wearing his stone mask, and Tyra and Tatl moved down the bridge to join him. Link put on the Zora mask and the three moved down the left pathway, the right leading to a dead end, and turned a corner which lead to a door. Moving through it they came into an orange coloured room, just like the one they had been in before where Link had fought the guard, and once again someone called out to them.

"Halt!" The voice shouted and a Pirate dressed in orange jumped down in front of them. She said the same thing as the other one had and Link took care of her just as fast. When the guard left the door opened and Tyra was through it even before Link could lower his fins.

As soon as Link walked through the door Tyra turned to him and shouted for him to hurry. She moved just a bit to the side of the aquarium the egg was in to show him that there was a huge skeleton fish inside with smaller ones next to it. Link quickly hookshot his way up on the side of the aquarium and shot the biggest fish with the hookshot twice before it died, and all the little fish died with it. Jumping into the water as Mikau, Link scooped up the egg with an empty bottle, climbed out and tossed it to Tyra who put the bottle safely away in her bag.

"Mikau, lets just go back the way we came, we both saw the other hookshot poll on top of the building next to this one, I bet it leads to the last egg." Tyra said and moved towards the door they had just come through.

They quickly ran back through the rooms and back out into the open air. They latched onto the poll they had seen earlier and dropped down on the upper roof, where Link had to quickly knock out the guard that was patrolling the bridge there. They ran across the bridge and entered through the door that was just to the right of them, entering into another part of the main building. The room they came into had a ramp leading down from where they were to a lower level which had a large chest in the center with three guards walking around it. At the other end of the room was another ramp leading up to another door which had to be where the last guard was.

"Link, we still need a picture of one of the Pirates to give to the fisherman to get the seahorse." Tyra whispered in his ear.

Link nodded his head and pulled on the stone mask, moving down the ramp and stood in front of one of the guards. Taking out the pictograph he had received during his time in the swamp, Link took a picture of the guard in front of him before he quickly knocked them all out. The three moved into the next room, which had steel pipes running along the ceiling and a large steel mechanism at the other end of the room. Link moved forward as he normally had done, and again a voice called out, but spoke differently then the others had.

"That's as far as you go!" A pirate dressed in purple dropped down in front of him as she continued to speak. "How unfortunate. You won't be getting past here!" She took out her scimitars, but again, Link took care of her in no time.

Tyra rushed through the door again as soon as it opened, but this time Link was much closer behind her. As she stood in front of the tank, Link pulled himself up to the top and dove in to claim the egg before the shellblade could do any harm to it. Tossing the bottle to Tyra before climbing out of the water, Link jumped down and smiled to her.

"Well that's the last ones the Pirates have, now all we have to do is get to the sea snakes and save those eggs." Link said and then paused a moment before going on. "Do you think the snakes will really eat the eggs? How much of a chance is there that they're still all alright?"

"Don't worry Link." Tyra said smiling up at him as they left the room and made their way out of the fortress. "The eggs are so small, I doubt that the snakes have really even seen them, I know they have a glow to them, but I don't think the snakes are hungry enough to spot them and eat them since they are so small, but we should hurry, the eggs aren't healthy so we still need to get them to the lab as soon as we can."

The three purposely got themselves caught so that they were throne out of the fortress quickly and then they made their way through the water and to the lab. They didn't say anything to the scientist this time, knowing that they were pressed for time. Tyra quickly dropped the eggs into the large aquarium there and then they made their way out and towards the beach. When they reached the shore Epona was still standing there and she gave a small whinny when she saw Link, even as a Zora, she knew who he was.

"Aw, she is such a cute pony." Tyra said as she walked up to the horse and started petting her.

"Her name is Epona." Link said as he did the same.

"She belongs to you? You must have paid a lot to get her, she's so beautiful, she'll be even more amazing once she's full grown."

"Actually, she was given to me by a friend back home. Epona took to me and my friend just gave her to me saying that she would be more happy with me."

"Wow that was nice of her." Tyra said giving Epona one last rub before they turned away to move up to the two huts that were at the top of the beach.

"Yeah, Epona doesn't get along with many people, I think that's why my friend gave her to me, it's odd that she let you get so close and pet her for that much time." Link commented.

"Ah, she probably knew I wasn't going to hurt her and that I was your friend anyway." Tyra said smiling.

They walked into the fisherman's house and Link had to stifle a laugh. There was stuff everywhere on the wall, and there was a large picture of the Pirate Queen hanging on the guys wall. The fisherman himself was wearing white pants and no shirt, showing off the tattoos on his arms, he was also bald. The seahorse that they wanted was sitting in a very large bowl on a table next to the guy. The seahorse was pretty cute, completely yellow in colour except for the light that was shinning on its head, which changed colours.

"Well, if it isn't a Zora?" The guy said upon seeing them. "How have things been going lately? Har-harrr! ….Could you be coming to see me 'cause you can't catch any fish? It's not good out there…. Lately, I've been coming back empty-handed myself. Why, I was almost hoping you were coming to share with me!" He said to Link and then looked over to Tyra, who was kneeling down in front of the seahorse and looking at him.

"Are you interested in that fish? It's a rare fish, isn't it? It's called a sea horse. I caught it swimming around here. Just off of Pinnacle rock. Since it's rare, I was thinking of selling it at the town carnival, which should be starting soon. If you want, I'll give it to you. On one condition…..Do you have a pictograph of the female pirates?" He asked, and Link pulled out the picture they had taken before. "Oh! That's it! That's it! I had a picture like that. Well, aren't you a crafty one? You'll give that to me, won't you? In exchange, I'll give you this!" The guy took the picture and nodded to Tyra to take the sea horse.

Tyra took out one of the empty bottles she had stored in her bag and dipped it into the bowl. Once it was filled with water the sea horse swam into it, and Link thought he could hear it speaking to Tyra. "Thank you….Now take me back to the waters near Pinnacle Rock, please, hurry."

The two thanked the fisherman and then left his hut, running for the water again.

"Where is the sea snakes cave anyway?" Link asked as they ran.

"Look ahead off to the right hand side of the laboratory, those two tall rocks sticking out of the water is like the entrance to Pinnacle rock. Behind them is a ring of rocks, that's where the sea snakes live, it's a big underwater tunnel leading straight down, they each have their own caves in there so we have to be careful where we swim once we get there." Tyra answered before they dove into the water.

They swam as fast as they could, Tyra being mindful to slow down some so that Link could keep up, and soon they were landing on the bottom of the ocean and running down the rock bed to the sandy area. The water became extremely murky when they reached the sandy bottom, and Tyra stopped and let the sea horse out.

"You have strange powers," The sea horse said to Link. "I have a request for you. Please follow me." The sea horse started to swim away slowly enough so that the two Zoras could follow it by running along the sea floor, its light the only thing keeping them from getting lost. When they reached the top of Pinnacle rock, it turned around and began speaking once more. "Here in the depths of Pinnacle Rock live many dangerous sea snakes… My friend is trapped here. Can you please find a way to rid the area of all the sea snakes and help my friend?"

"Don't worry, we'll find your friend." Tyra said and lifted off the sand and swam down into the rocks, Link by her side.

"Ok Link, all you have to do is land next to the mouth of the cave and hit the sea snake with your fins as it comes out, be careful not to actually touch it because it's also filled with electricity. I'll be in front of the cave to lure it out, so please, make sure you hit it." Tyra said and broke away from Link before he could argue.

Link did as he was told and landed next to the mouth of one of the cave and waited until the sea snake left in order to try and snatch Tyra. The thing had a huge rock like head with a large beak to tear its prey apart, but its long neck and body was green and looked delicate. Link launched his fins at its body slicing it, as it pulled back into its cave. It obviously wasn't a very smart creature because it came back out as Tyra swam by and Link hit it again, killing it at the second hit. As soon as the sea snake was dead, Tyra bolted past and deep into its cave. Link poked his head around the corner to see what she was doing, and saw the glow of one of the eggs.

"This is great Link, we already have one of the eggs, we only have two more to find and then get rid of the rest of the snakes to help the seahorses' friend." Tyra said as she moved off to the next cave. They only had to go through two more snakes before they found a second egg, and Link could tell that Tyra was starting to get anxious. They found the last egg in the final sea snake cave, and as the snake died they could also see the glow of the sea horse they were helping. Before they could move inside the other sea horse swam past them to join his friend. When Link and Tyra joined the two they thanked them, and then the light around them turned pink as they swam around each other.

"Something tells me they are more then just friends." Tyra whispered to Link before she took off swimming again to bring the last three eggs to the lab.

They didn't speak as they rushed to the lab, and Tyra was the first one up the ladder, she didn't even wait as she flung open the door and bolted inside, climbing up the side of the aquarium and dropping the last three eggs in.

"Good," the scientist said. "All of the eggs have been brought together…..It's going to start. Quick! Come to the front of the aquarium!"

Tyra jumped down from the top and stood next to Link as they looked down into the water. The eggs began to expand a little and then little baby Zora's hatched out of the eggs. They had round little bodies, big black eyes, fins on the side, and a long tail with a fin at the end. After they had all hatched they swam up together and curled their tails around so that they looked like music notes. There were bars on the back of the aquarium for the scientist to climb down and clean it when it was empty, and they aliened themselves up in front of the bars.

"L-look at this!" The scientist cried. "What does this mean….what in the world could this mean? …. I've got it! Don't you understand? The way these Zora children have lined up… It means…" And then he stopped.

Link didn't have to hear him finish, he pulled out his guitar and played the notes that the children had placed before him. When Link had played all the notes right and had learnt the song they were trying to teach them, all the children turned around and looked at them, wagging their tails in a happy fashion.

"That! Yes, it's that instrument!" The scientist called. "Hmm… If these Zoras were born to teach this song, then hurry! You must play this song for the Zora who laid these eggs!"

"Hurry Mikau, this song will probably help Lulu, let me go first so that we're not seen together dashing through Zora Hall." Tyra said and took off running.

Link gave her a couple minutes head start before he too left the laboratory and dove into the water. As Link ran along the sand and came out onto the beach before the Zora's place, he looked to the sky and noticed a faint hint of lighter blue colour, and he knew that it would soon be the dawn of the second day, again he was running out of time, he hoped that he had enough though to be able to get through the temple and save Great Bay. Diving into the water he quickly made his way through the ocean and into the Hall. Slowing his pace some so that no one would take great notice of him, he made his way to the back of the hall and out onto the platform where Tyra was already standing next to Lulu.

Link played the song in front of her, once he played through it once; Lulu looked up and sang along with him as he played it a second time. Lulu's voice carried out over the silent water, and then the ground began to shake a little as the little island that was next to the platform began to move. Suddenly a jet of water flew upwards, spraying all four of them. When they could see again they saw that the island was actually on the back of a giant turtle.

"Mm….Mm……Yeeeaaawn!" The Turtle said. "I slept quiet well! I just realized this when I opened my eyes. The passing of days is quite quick. Isn't it, Lulu?"

"You know my name?" Lulu asked it.

"Yes, Lulu. It's nothing to be surprised at. Although my eyes were closed in sleep, I still see everything that occurs in this ocean…..Hmmm. It seems Lulu is confused. Regrettably, there is no time for idle conversation. Now then, proud Zora warrior…The open seas of Great Bay have need of your might. Quickly. Climb onto my back."

Without the slightest hesitation, Link turned back into his human form and hookshot onto one of the trees on the turtles back and pulled himself and Tyra up onto the turtle. The turtle turned around and made his way towards the dragon cloud that surrounded the temple. From their position they could see a boat with four pirates on it and the one dressed in white they had seen before making their way towards the temple. As soon as they got close to the cloud it swept their boat out of the water and tossed them along screaming. Link and Tyra bent down low on the turtles back and closed their eyes waiting for the worst, but they passed through the cloud with no problem and entered into the entrance of the temple. Link and Tyra jumped off the turtles back and looked around the first room. The temple was fully made out of metal, and it had leaks of water everywhere. They moved up a platform to where two torches stood and a dais where Link knew would bring him back to the boss room once he had the mask.

"Um…Mikau?" Tyra asked looking at him oddly.

"Yeah?"

"I forgot to mention why I wanted to come here, it's not only just to break the curse on the water, but also our fairy that protects everything here was shattered, and her pieces are now lost among the temple, I was hoping we would be able to collect them while we're here, at the same time as we do everything else."

"Yeah, sure, no problem Tyra." Link said, having guessed that a similar fate had also happened to the Great Fairy here as the other places.

"Great, and the first one is in this room, I think we just need to light the torches." Tyra said pointing four torches out.

Link used his fire arrows to light the four torches that lined the platform they were on and a treasure chest appeared right in front of the turtle. Link opened it up, and sure enough a little fairy flew out and flew to Tyra and hid in her bag.

"Alright, that's one, how did you know it was in here?" Link asked as he moved to stand beside her so they could go through the first door together.

"I don't know, I just knew there was one in here. I was always with the Great Fairy through the years, and we have this special bond, I can feel it when a piece of her is in a room." Tyra answered as they moved through the door.

The next room was huge, with a large water wheel in the dead center of it. There were a whole bunch of cranks and gadgets around, moving platforms, enemies, and all sorts of things, and to top it all off, the very bottom of the room was flooded.

"There's two fairies in here, one below us and another one up there." Tyra said pointing up to the left.

Link nodded his head and dove down into the water as the Zora, and right under the platform they had been on was a fairy trapped in a bubble. Link broke the bubble and the fairy flew up and into Tyra's bag. Link climbed out of the water and had to wait for a platform to come down so he could jump on it and be carried up to the top on the left hand side. Link jumped to the platform and rolled under a Skulltula as it came down from the ceiling. Killing it quickly he released another fairy who also went straight to Tyra.

"Alright, that's all of them in here," Link said as he landed next to her, "Now we have to figure out where we're going from here."

"I'm pretty sure this looks like the main control room for the rest of the temple, so there should be a switch under the water that we can push to get the fountain working on the right side so we can move onto the next room." Tyra said.

The two dove down into the water and moved around the bottom of the room together, looking for the switch. Eventually they found it and pushed it in so that water began to flow through it, activating the fountain on the right hand side so that they could climb on the platforms and make their way to the door that was on the second level. Just as they reached the elevator on the right hand side, Link could faintly hear the Clock Tower chiming the sixth hour in the morning on the second day. They made their way up the elevator and used the platforms and the fountain they had just activated to get around to the next room, where they came to a large machine that was in the water, which the water wheel powered.

"Fairies?" Link asked.

"One, in the barrel over there." Tyra said pointing.

Link collected the fairy and then the two dove into the water. The force of the turning machine pushed them around and around, and Link had no choice but to follow Tyra as she chose a corridor that was red with green pipes on the wall. They were pushed down the corridor and came out into a smaller room; there were skeleton fish swimming around and one other opening with hands sticking out, ready to trap anything that got close to them. Link killed the hands and they swam down the long corridor and came out into a smaller corridor with deku babas hanging off lily pads. Link killed them and a chest appeared which Tyra opened to grab another fairy. They turned around and moved to the other side of the room where there was another door.

The next room they came into had a fast flowing stream right under the path they were standing on. There was a still lake in the center of the room with more babas hanging off pads in it, straight across was a small alcove with a live bombchu running around on it, to the right of that was another opening they couldn't get to, and to the right of that was a large area that was caged off by gold bars. Walking to the edge of the lake, they looked down and could see a small chest sitting in the middle of more hands.

"Bet you anything that there's a small key in there." Tyra said.

Link sighed and nodded, jumping down into the water to take care of the enemies. When Link got the key he resurfaced to find another fairy just floating down into Tyra's bag.

"Where did you get that fairy?" He asked as he moved to stand next to her.

Tyra simply shrugged and dove into the fast moving stream, forcing Link to follow her. They were thrown back out into the main room with the large machine swirling the water around. Tyra swam downwards and was sucked through another room that had a single red pipe, Link having to do another turn of the room before he could get down low enough to follow her. There was a bunch of shellblades in the new room he entered and Link simply floated up to avoid them, hoping Tyra was still waiting for him. As Link was floating up he spotted the other Zora standing on a red pipe and moved over to stand with her.

"I think this is the only way up to the next switch." She said and pointed to a live bombchu that was blocking their way.

Link shot the bombchu with an arrow and after it had exploded they moved along the pipe. They walked along it until they reached another platform which had a locked door at the end of it, moving down they moved through the door and entered into a long green room. There was only two jelly like enemies inside so they moved to the other side of the room and entered through the door. As soon as they were in, the door slammed shut behind them with bars locking them in. The room had a thin layer of water over it, and a couple platforms here and there.

"Ew." Was all Tyra said as she stared up at the ceiling.

Link followed her gaze and saw a giant eye sitting on ceiling. It looked down at them and dropped down, carrying with it a tone of bubbles. It closed its eye and the bubbles surrounded it and it moved slowly and blindly around the room.

"I'm just going to go stand over in that corner." Tyra said as she walked away.

"Yeah, you do that." Link said absently as he took out his hookshot.

Link slowly began to pull the bubbles off of the monster, and when the monster opened his eye Link hit it with an arrow as soon as he got a clear shot around the bubbles. After a couple hits all the bubbles fell off the monster and went after Link, forcing him to hide in a corner as he attacked them. He could hear the giant eye flying around the room, but he couldn't hear Tyra screaming, so he assumed she was ok. Once he had all the bubbles cleared away Link watched the eye skid around the room, and every time it opened its eye he struck it with an arrow. After very few shots the giant eye exploded, and a chest appeared in the center of the room. He and Tyra met at the chest and Link pulled out the arrow which was made of ice. It broke in his hand and he could feel the power seeping through his whole body, giving him the power of the ice arrow.

"Oh this dungeon is just going to be a lode of fun." Link said sarcastically.


	13. Another Goodbye

**_A/N: _So I just got a call from work and I dont have to work tomorrow, so I have another day to write, I dont think I'll get another two in tomorrow though lol Sorry this chapter is maga short, but it has an interesting ending if anyone can pick up on it, *hint hint***

* * *

"Argy, can you please just shoot me with an arrow now and get it over with?" Link asked Tyra as they entered into a large square room with large machine like seesaws. "I've had enough of changing the water flow and freezing this waterfall to get to this place and then the only thing you get is a freaken frog."

"Now now Mikau, we didn't just get a frog, we also got the boss key and this is the way to the boss room, don't worry, we're almost there by now, it can't be must further, we almost have all the fairies, that's a good indication we're almost done here." Tyra said in as soothing tone as she could.

"You're right." Link sighed as he allowed himself to fall off the platform they were on to the ground below and walked around the room to get a scope of things.

"Yeah, and there's also two fairies in here, one is in that…hole of water." Tyra said pointing underneath where one of the seesaw platforms would fall to once there was enough pressure on its side.

Link gave a thumbs up and turned into a Zora and dove down to find a barrel. Breaking it he released another fairy and then swam back up with it as it went and hid in Tyra's bag, where eleven other fairies were already all huddled together. The three moved towards one of the seesaws, the lowest to the ground and climbed on. Link used a fire arrow to hit a piece of ice that was in the ceiling that was blocking the water flow. As the water hit the other end of the seesaw they were raised up in the air where they could jump to a second seesaw. Link did the same thing with the frozen water in the ceiling over the second seesaw and they were able to jump to a platform that held another green switch. Link turned the switch as Tyra moved down the pipe, heading for the second fairy in the room.

Once Tyra had the fairy they used the last seesaw to be brought up to a single platform with a door. They entered back out into the area where they had first ran into the hands. They jumped back down into the water and made their way back out into the main room with the machine that moved the water around. Finding the only place they had never been before, a corridor with a single green pipe, they swam down it and they entered into a room with many steel poles running through the water. Tyra pulled Link to the right where they could see another corridor pulling the water quickly back down into the room they had just come from. Also there was a fairy trapped in a bubble. Link burst the bubble and then the pair swam to the green pipe that ran out of the water.

Taking off the Zora mask, Link saw the last fairy also stuck in a bubble underneath the platform they were going to go up. Popping the bubble he pulled on the Great Fairy mask and the last two fairies found their way to the duo and joined the rest of the others in Tyra's bag. They continued on their way up the pipe where Link pulled the last green switch, causing a fountain to shoot up before them, giving them access to the boss door.

"Tyra, do you have any idea what time it is even though we've been in here for awhile?" Link asked as they jumped to the door and he unlocked it with the boss key.

"Yes, it's exactly midnight, why do you always want to know what time it is? Are you afraid that we will miss the carnival? She asked with a laugh.

"It's kind of like that." Link said, counting down the hours to dooms day in his head all the time.

When they entered into the boss room all that was there to great them was a circular room with a large hole in the center. The duo carefully made their way to the edge of the hole and looked down. They could see a small platform and water surrounding it. Looking at each other Tyra simply shrugged and they jumped down the hole together. It was a long time before they finally hit the platform, and they could hear something swimming around in the water around them. Finally they could hear it come charging from behind them, and they turned around just in time to see a giant fish with a horned nose fly out of the water and up over their heads before landing back in the water.

"That's Gyorg! I didn't think it actually existed." Tyra said as she moved carefully to the side to watch it. "The only way to defeat it is it you hit it with your Zora shield as you're swimming, but to do that you need to knock it unconscious, like you did with the pirates." She said.

Link nodded and took out his bow and arrows, knocking one and waiting until the fish stopped swimming and was just about to charge at the platform again. Before it could get too close Link shot it with an arrow and knocked it unconscious. Putting on the Zora mask Link jumped into the water and swam after it, bringing up his shield as he passed, zapping the fish with it. Once the fish was back up Link climbed back up onto the platform and turned back into a human, pulling out his bow to start the whole process again. The second time around Link didn't get out of the water fast enough and the fish snatched him up in his mouth and chewed on him a couple times before finally spitting him out. After Link hit it a third time the fish opened its mouth and tiny baby fish swam out, all trying to reach him to take a chunk out of him. Link only had to hit it twice more after the little fish came out before Gyorg leapt out of the water and onto the platform, forcing Tyra to dive into the water. It jumped around a good number of times, slowly shrinking as it killed itself. Once it was dead, the bright blue portal with its mask opened up on the platform.

"Well that was interesting." Tyra said as she pulled herself and the bag of fairies out of the water and moved to stand next to the portal, Link walking over to join her.

"Yeah, and this is what I was looking for, lets get out of here." Link said and the two stepped into the portal which brought them to the realm of the giants.

They could hear the giant calling out to them, and again Tatl had to open her mouth.

"Hey, listen. We want you to lend us your power! If you just leave things as they are, something terrible will happen to this world! Surely, you're the only ones who can stop it! That's what Tael was trying to tell us!..... 'Help our friend'….I get it. We have to help the last one! Then promise us this….You'll cooperate with us….." There was a flash of light and then they were standing on the platform outside the Zora hall in front of the turtle who began speaking to them.

"Now I can continue resting in peace. I too must abide the laws of ancient times and again merely watch from my deep slumber. But the evil that haunts this land has not completely vanished. I shall depart after enjoying Lulu's voice a bit longer. I think the gods can permit that. Hyeh, hyeh, hyeh."

"Link, we need to go inside, the Zora band had wanted to start practising days ago, you need to go inside and join them on stage, I'll watch from the top alcove. Once you're done with everyone else, come join me at the fairies fountain, it's just to the left of the Zora Hall entrance." Tyra said, and then turned and ran inside.

Link waited a couple moments and then put on the Zora mask, and then also moved inside; going straight for the giant shell where he knew the rest of the band would be waiting for him. As he drew closer he could feel his skin begin to tingle, and he knew the soul of the real Mikau was happy and excited to get to practice. Diving into the water around the shell he swam for a bit and then surfaced. Climbing up he moved to stand in front of Lulu who smiled when she saw him.

"Mikau! You came back safely! That's good….I was surprised when my voice turned that lonely island into a turtle…. But that song you played for me…My mother used to sing it often….long ago….Those eggs were laid to remind me of that. That song was from when I was a very young child, so I had forgotten it….. I've put you through some horrible experiences, Mikau. But I'm all better now! Well, the town's carnival is very soon. Let's start our rehearsal!"

"One…Two….Three…"Tijo said, counting them in as Link took his place.

They played through the song that he and Japas had been playing earlier, so Link already knew most of the cords, but it didn't really matter, the spirit of Mikau took complete control over everything anyway.

After they were done playing Link still had to stay around for awhile to talk to the other band members about the carnival and what not, not really interested in it since it would be awhile yet before he would actually get to see it. When he thought he would be able to escape he was still held back by the Zora fans, congratulating everyone for pulling together even though they had started practice so late. After an hour of talking to people he actually really didn't know, he was able to slip out of the Hall and swim to where Tyra said she was going to meet up with him.

He had to go all the way to shore to climb up on a rock in order to jump all the way across, he wasn't even sure how Tyra got to the top platform since he needed to use his hookshot in a couple places to get onto the trees to reach the very top.

"I guess there was a rockslide here while we were gone." Tyra said when Link finally reached her.

She was standing in front of a pile of rocks with the bag of fairies at her side, and all the little fairies were jumping around, ready to finally piece themselves back together with the others that were still in the fountain. Link pulled out a bomb and lit it as Tyra stepped back, and turning back into a Zora he stood and watched as the rocks were blown apart, and the two of them stepped inside. As soon as they were next to the fairy fountain the little fairies burst from the bag and all came together to form the Great Fairy with purple hair.

"Oh, courageous young one!" She said looking at Link. "I am the Great Fairy of Courage! Thank you for returning my broken and shattered body to normal. As thanks, I shall lend you my strength." She wrapped a blue light around Link and he could feel his skin tingle. "Your defence has been strengthened, enemies wont harm you as much as they used to. Come see me whenever you are overcome by weariness." The fairy said and then vanished.

"Well, I guess that's it." Tyra said and turned and left. Link followed her out and sat down beside her on the small cliff outside the great fairies cave.

They sat in silence for awhile, allowing their feet to hang over the edge, just watching the sun slowly beginning to rise across the ocean. Since it was the third day the sky was an odd purple pink as the sun came up, clouds still hanging around from the previous day.

"Thank you, for everything, Mikau." Tyra finally said breaking the silence.

"It was nothing; really, I had to come out here anyway to get the monsters remains from the temple." Link replied.

"I know you actually had to help because you had to get to the temple yourself, but you were nice the whole time, and you helped me find the fairies even without knowing you were going to get your own reward for it. So, thanks." Tyra said, standing up. "I know you have a lot more to do though, so I don't want to keep you waiting around here."

"I really don't mind spending time with you though Tyra, I like you, you're a lot of fun and you have a big heart." Link said, also standing.

"Thank you, you're the same way Mikau, and this may sound odd, but I don't want to know you're real name, even after all we've been through. You are so like the Mikau I knew, the one behind the scenes, since we were kids. It's been great, and even though we still have another full day before I'm sure that moon comes down, time is still precious to you, and even though time won't bother me, it will you. You have something else on your mind then saving Termina. Please, lets just end our meeting on a happy note, and just promise me you'll fix everything before you leave."

"I promise I'll do everything I can to stop the moon from falling, and I'm almost there, I only have one more temple to go to and free the last giant, and then I'll take care of the skull kid." Link said, and did the only thing he could think of. Pulling Tyra into his arms he gave her a big long hug. The two stayed there for a couple moments hugging each other, and then Link let go and dove into the water below, never once looking back. He went all the way to the shore and took out his guitar, playing the song of time, the song that would take him back to the first day, and back to being here without anyone every remembering who he was or that he had helped them, once again loosing a great friend.

Tyra closed her eyes as she listened to the song of time being played, a single tear slide down her cheek as she could feel the powerful pull of the song. "I love you Link, and I always will." She said softly as the strings of time pulled her back to the first day.


	14. Ikana Graveyard

**_A/N:_ Here's todays chapter, and I promise there's no almost fluffies -.-; I won't be able to get another chapter in today because now I have to go start cleaning, I should be able to get another in tomorrow though depending on what time I wake up....**

* * *

As soon as Link opened his eyes on what he knew as the First Day, he looked around and then plopped himself down on the ground in front of the Clock Tower. He knew darn well that it was once again time for him to collect masks, and he knew Ilarie would eventually show up. Right on cue, Ilarie seemed to float down next to him, folding her arms in the sleeves of her shirt as the two just sat there in silence for a moment, watching the people of Clock Town go about their daily lives, with only a faint fear of what was to come at the end of the Third Day, the day of the carnival.

"There is only eight more masks to go Link." Ilarie finally said. "And very much left to do, I am not even sure where I should send you first." She gave her head a small shake as she sighed. "No, it is not possible to get it all done this time around. There are events that must take place for you to do one thing and others for you to do another."

"Well Ilarie it's really up to you, you know where I should go, you know what's best, you've always sent me on the better path." Link commented as he wrapped his hand around Tatl to keep her quiet.

"Yes, that is true, but this time I am going to leave it up to you. There is one thing you can do no matter which path you choose so you still have to do it. Tonight or tomorrow night between ten and five in the morning I want you to go to the Milk Bar and speak to the Zora there as the different shapes you have acquired, together they will make a melody and after a short talk, you will receive a mask. Your choice though now affects the rest of it. You may either help Anju with what troubles her and gain three masks out of your efforts, or you may leave her be for now and gain one other mask and a larger wallet to hold more rupees, the choice is up to you."

"I want to help Anju a lot, and three masks sounds like a good plan, but I also want to take less time to do all this, so I think it would be better to get a bigger wallet and just the two masks this time, what do you think Tatl?" Link said unleashing his fairy.

"I think you made the right choice, even though I really want to get all this done and over with, I don't want to have to go against the Skull Kid right after we finish the last temple, so we can come back to this day and be able to do the three masks and be all set to fight the skull kid." Tatl answered, flying out of Links' reach.

"Then it is settled." Ilarie said standing back up. "You must first go to Ikana Graveyard, awake Captain Keeta, you cannot miss him, and race him. Reach the top before he does and he will give you his mask. Quickly after that you must head back to Great Bay and clear the Spider House there, it is located right next to the Fisherman's house. It must be done before the end of the day. As soon as you have completed that, go to the Milk Bar at night and get the mask that is there. Quickly return to North Clock Town and stop the thief from taking the woman's bag as you had done before. Because the bomb bags do not reach the Curiosity Shop, he will have for sale another mask that costs five hundred rupees, with this mask you can also help Anju's Grandmother by wearing it and staying awake during her stories at another time."

"Well that doesn't sound that hard." Link said also standing up, "Alright Ilarie, thanks, we'll see you again once I beat the last temple." Link said waving as he ran towards the Eastern exit, heading for the canyon.

"Good luck Link." Ilarie said and then once she couldn't hear his footsteps anymore, she turned around and walked into the Clock Tower, pulling off her mask and sitting down on the steps with her head between her knees.

"I warned you that the mask took a lot out of people." The Happy Mask Salesman said as he walked over to her.

"I know, but this is the only choice I have, if I don't do this then he wont win against Majora's Mask, he needs the Fierce Deity's Mask." She said looking up at him.

"True, true. I have something special for you this time. Come, come see." The Salesman said and the two walked down the ramp of the Clock Tower.

~*~

"Now I know why she said we wouldn't be able to miss him." Tatl commented as they gazed at Captain Keeta.

They had made their way to the Canyon and had found out where the graveyard was, had moved up past all the graves and had come to a small hut with a bridge running from its roof to the mountain next to it. Underneath the bridge was a huge skeleton, simply sleeping away.

"HEY!" Tatl yelled at it as she flew around it making annoying noises. "WAKE UP ALREADY WOULD!!! WE DON'T HAVE ALL DAY!" She stared at him for a moment longer before she moved back down to Link's shoulder. "I'm pretty sure he's sound asleep, why don't you try to piss him off by playing that annoying song we learnt at the swamp?"

Link looked down at his loud mouth fairy and shrugged his shoulders, pulling out his ocarina and playing the Sonata of Awakening. It actually didn't surprise him all that much when the giant Skeleton actually woke up, breaking the top of the bridge and turning around and started running up the path. Link ran after him using the bunny hood and shot an arrow at him, slowing him down for a moment. As he came up to sides of a gate fire erupted blocking his path, two smaller skeletons coming up out of the ground. Link quickly turned to Darmini and took them out with one punch before he turned back into himself and ran after Captain Keeta once more. He stopped him with an arrow just next to the gate, and once again fire erupted and Skeletons jumped out. Turning into Darmini again he smashed the skeletons, but he also hit the captain who roared and turned around, swinging his claws at Link.

"I thought I was just supposed to race him." Link complained turning back into himself and deflecting the blow with his shield.

Link didn't have much choice but to fight. He spent awhile dodging or getting thrown by the Captains claws, dodging the captain when he tried to sit on Link, but finally the captain jumped, spun in the air, and landed on the ground on his butt.

"Wait!" The Captain called holding up one hand. "It is my loss! Sheathe your weapon…." He got up and slide down the broken part of the bridge so that he was eye level with Link before he started talking. "I commanded the Ikana Army of Ikana Kingdom atop the hill. I am called Skull Keeta. Since being shamed by loss in a battle within my Kingdom….I have waited here for one to came and awaken my soul. Young swordsman who has awakened and deftly defeated me….I shall rely on your power to fulfill my request. I ask you to take my soul, which rests in the fiercely burning flame… And convey my words to my men, who, even in death, remain loyal to me." He paused a moment as he turned around and looked at the chest behind the flames that held his soul. "Tell them the war has ended….Then I shall be able to drift quietly into sleep…." He then turned back to Link and saluted him. "Captain, sir! May I take leave, sir?"

Link paused a moment trying to figure out what the skeleton wanted him to do, but then he put his legs together, stood up straight and saluted the Captain back.

"Yes, sir!" The Captain said and then broke to pieces, the flames around the chest dying out.

Link hookshot to the chest and pulled himself over to it, opening it up and pulling out the Captains Mask. Knowing exactly where he had to go next, Link pulled out his Ocarina and played the Song of Soaring, warping to the laboratory at Great Bay. Link turned around and the first thing he looked for was the body of Mikau floating in the water, but it was no where to be seen. Guessing that even though he had gone back in time, he couldn't undo a death like that, Link dove into the water and swam to the shore. He ran up the beach and into the older run down house that had nothing inside it.

"Oooookkkk." Talt said as she flew around the empty room, "I think Ilarie is a little lost in what we're supposed to do here."

"You give up too easily." Link said to the fairy, walking to the back wall and striking it with his sword.

As the sword hit, it made an odd clinking sound, he could also hear the movement of the spiders on the other side of the wall. Pulling out the Blast Mask since he didn't have any bombs on him, he set it off and made a hole in the wall. The hole showed a slop that ran downwards, and Link slide down it, passing two of the spiders on the way down. Once he had landed on the bottom, Link turned around and shot the two skulltula's with his hookshot and then collected the tokens.

"Well, if they're all going to be that easy, we'll have this place cleared in no time." Tatl said happily.

* * * * *

"Huh?" The skeleton said as it stood up and turned around to look at Link who was wearing the Captains Hat. "Ah! Captain, sir!" It said as it snapped to attention. "It's been a long time since we're seen you! As you have ordered, sir, we are investigating the secretes of this place. According to the information I have obtained, it seems yellow should be shot fourth! Have I fulfilled my duties, sir?"

"Yes." Link said nodding his head at it.

"Ahh! Thank you, sir! I hope the information I have provided will be of assistance to you, sir. Now, as you ordered, sir, I will finish the last of my duties. Yessir!" It finished and then broke apart.

The skeleton had been the last of the four that had been sitting in the room at a table; it was also the last room Link had to go through to finish killing all the spiders. Now that the skeletons were gone Link pulled off the Captains Hat and looked around the room for good hiding places for the spiders. Standing on the table he knocked down one of the pictures, revealing a spider, then he saw one walking along the edges of the rafters to his left, then he turned into a Goron and punched one of the vases that was to his right which also had a spider. Standing back up on the table as a Goron, he looked up and spotted the last three in the chandelier. Rolling into a ball, he ground pounded the table, the shock sending the spiders flying out of the chandelier and onto the floor, which he took care of as a human.

"Well that wasn't too hard, just as I said." Tatl spoke as she hovered around Link's head. "We found all thirty of the spiders before four; we have plenty of time to do other stuff….I wonder what the skeletons were investigating though." She commented as they left the room, heading for the entrance.

"I don't know, and I don't really care all that much either." Link said as they walked, "If it was important I'm sure Ilarie would have told us about it."

When they reached the entrance there was a guy standing in the middle of the empty entrance, dressed in blue pants and a green shirt, and he was looking around widely.

"I thought I heard some loud noises inside, and I came in to check it out…" The guy said, still looking around. "This place….Is this some sort of underground shelter? Did you find this place?"

"Yeah." Link answered him as honestly as he could.

"I beg you! Let me have this place! Not for free, of course. I hope this will do…." The guy said and then handed Link a giant wallet that could hold five hundred rupees. "I'm just glad it was something you needed…Anyhow, I won't be needing it much longer anyway…"

"Yeah, true." Link said and then left the Spider House. "Ok, Tatl, what should we do now? We have plenty of time on our hands before tonight when we have to be at the Milk Bar."

"Why don't we just go back to Clock Town and hang around there?" Tatl suggested.

Link nodded his head and then played the Song of Soaring again, warping back to Clock Town. He wondered around for awhile and then headed over to East Clock Town, moving up the steps to stand on the roof of the Milk Bar. From that vantage point he watched as the sun was setting, just enjoying the peace and quiet for a change. His quiet didn't last long though, as the first chimes of the night began, he felt someone behind him and turned around to see Ilarie.

"I did not know you would be able to finish everything so early today Link, so I have one more thing for you to do before you go inside the Milk Bar, you will need it in order to reach the next temple. I need you to go back to the graveyard, and wearing the Captains Hat, talk to the guards there and enter a tomb, there you will follow the path and at the end of it, while having to fight enemies, you will find a song you must know." Ilarie told him and then turned and walked away.

"Well, that was a little odd." Tatl said, "But if we do need it to get into the next temple, then lets go Link." She said and flew off the roof and through the gate that lead back to the canyon and the graveyard, Link following after her.

They arrived at the graveyard a little after six and spotted the skeletons that Ilarie had told them about. Walking over to them with the Captains Hat on, it didn't take long before they were noticed.

"Huh?" One of the skeletons said, stopping to look at Link. "Aah! Captain, sir!!! Excuse me, sir! Everyone, give the captain your attention." It said, and all three of the skeletons that had been walking around a grave stopped and saluted Link. "We haven't seen you in some time, captain, sir! As per your orders, sir, we've been guarding these graves closely. We have all been expecting your next order, sir. What shall we do?"

"Open the grave." Link said in his most commanding voice.

"O-open it? Yes, sir! Everyone! Follow me!" the skeleton said and walked over to the grave.

All three of them worked together and broke the grave open before jumping inside, Link following down after them. He landed on a platform with no sign of the other three. Looking ahead Link jumped across to another platform and then to another which had a tunnel leading to another place. He walked into what seemed to be a cave with a door locked by bars in front of him, a small ramp leading up and around it. Flying all through the cave were a bunch of bats which Link had to take care of before he was able to do anything else. Once the bats were gone Link took out his fire arrows and lit the three torches that were in the room which opened the door. When he walked through the door and into the other room the door behind him slammed shut and bars locked his escape. Before him was another cave like circular room, but in the center of it was an Iron Knuckle. Link groaned as he looked at it, this being one of the enemies he hated the most. Behind it looked to be some sort of stage with a large purple curtain draped down in front of it.

Link walked up to the Iron Knuckle and woke it up, spending all of his time moving in close to it and then jumping back out of the way so he didn't get hit by its huge axe, and then swiping at it with his sword once it paused to figure out its next move. Very quickly Link had it down and out, and as it vanished the curtain on the stage rose up, revealing a grave with writing on it. As Link approached a voice called out to him from what he thought was the grave.

"Are you the one that freed my soul?" The voice asked, and then a poe dressed in purple with a green over vest appeared. "I served the Ikana Royal Family. I am the composer called Flat. The songs connected to the Royal Family that remain here were all composed by my brother and I. Oh…Sharp, my dear brother. He sold his soul to the devil and was the one who locked me in here…. You who do not fear the dead, learn well the song that is inscribed behind me…..And if you ever meet my brother, I'd like you to inform him…. The thousand years of raindrops summoned by my song are my tears. The thunder that strikes the earth is my anger!...I have made my request." The ghost said and then vanished.

"You know, we're taking a lot of requests from dead people." Tatl commented as she flew up on the stage to look at the notes inscribed on the grave.

Link moved up on the stage to stand with her and read the gravestone. _'The thousand years of raindrops are my tears. The thunder the strikes the earth is my anger! Here is written the song that shall cleanse his cursed, black soul.'_ Link played the notes that were written and realized that it was the Song of Storms, the same one he had known back in Hyrule. Link left the grave and then warped back to Clock Town for the second time that day, still being ahead of schedule, he again just walked to stand above the Bar and watched the stars until it was time to go in.

At ten o'clock Link jumped down from where he was sitting and put on the cow mask Romani had given to him and went to the door of the Bar. Since he had proof he was a member he was allowed in and he walked down the stairs and towards the bar counter, where there was a man dressed up, sitting and drinking.

"Hey….You!" The man said as he turned towards Link. "Milk….It's miiiiilk…Can you get tipsy from something like milk?!? Hic!"

Link looked at him as the guy turned around and placed his head on the counter, banging his fist every now and then. Shaking his head Link turned and walked over to the Zora who was standing there, who was much more sober then the other guy.

"We were scheduled to do a show, but it got cancelled." The Zora said to Link. "This place has a reputation for being a great live venue, so it's a shame. I'd like to do a sound check, though. I just want to see what it would have been like… Hey, you! Could you help me with a performance?"

"Sure." Link said and then walked up on the stage where a bunch of lights had come on.

"Ok!" The Zora said. "You play the ocarina, right? Go stand under the center spotlight." He waited until Link got there and then continued. "Ok! Play your ocarina like this…." He gave a couple notes and then Link played then back at him. "Ok! That feels good!"

"What feels good?!? That wretched, senseless racket?" The other guy commented.

Link ignored the guy and went through the whole process again as the Zora, the Goron, and the Deku Scrub. Each time he played as one, the other notes from the previous instrument played back at him through the recording. When all four of the instruments were together they finished the song, which made the other Zora very happy.

"Bravo!!!" He said, "That was the best!!!"

"Tha-That melody…" The drunk guy said. "That melody…It brings back so many memories!"

"It's their old standby…" The Zora answered him. "'Ballad of the Wind Fish'. That's the song that members of the previous generation of the Indigo-Go's made famous!"

"I entered show business because I heard this song at the Carnival of Time long ago…. By doing performance, I thought maybe I'd get to meet the singers of that song…"

"The one you heard singing must have been the original Lulu, mother of the current lead singer who's also named Lulu."

"So her daughter is singing now….Is that so? I'd like to hear that…" The drunk guy said, and then Link walked over to him and he turned around to talk to him. "I'm sorry I booed you…Please, take my mask." He said and handed over the Circus leaders mask, which seemed to be crying.

With the mask in hand Link left the bar and then made his way up to North Clock Town, where he didn't have to wait overly long before he saw the old lady making her way back from outside the towns walls. He waited until the thief stole the bag and then slashed it from his back, bringing it back to the old lady. The old lady was just as grateful as last time for Link brining back her bag and she tottled away to her bomb shop.

"So…." Tatl said. "What are we going to do until tomorrow night when we can go to the other shop?"

"Well, I don't have five hundred Rupees sitting in my wallet, might as well go collecting those." Link answered and the pair left Clock Town.

* * * * *

It took Link all of the rest of the night and during the day to collect all five hundred rupees that he would need to buy the mask, but he was taking it slow so that even though he was doing what he had to do, he was taking it easy, saving his energy for the next temple since the last temple always seemed to be the hardest. Ilarie had also been by to tell him that the mask he was going to buy would only be in the shop on the third day, so he spent the rest of his time snoozing in North Clock Town.

Around ten at night of the Third Day, Link made his way over to the Curiosity Shop, walking in like he had been there thousands of times before so as not to seem out of place. Walking right up to the counter he greeted the guy, who looked a lot like the guy who ran the trading post right next door during the day.

"Come in." The guy said. "You gotta look around. I'm doin' a special sale. Check it out. Tonight's bargain is the All-Night Mask for use at bedtimes. I forgot when it was made, but it sure it a freaky mask…See? When you put it on, you can try and try to fall asleep, but you won't be able to. Pretty creepy, huh? What'll it be?"

"I'll buy the All-Night Mask." Link said and poured the five hundred Rupees on the counter.

"Here you go then." The guy said and handed over the mask after he counter all the rupees.

"Alright, I think that's it." Link said as he walked out the door.

"Now we can get to the last temple!" Tatl said.

Link simply chuckled a little and pulled out his ocarina, playing the song of time, ready to release the last giant.


	15. Ikana Canyon

**_A/N:_ Ok, I would have had this chapter up on Friday along with another chapter, but as I'm sure you've all realized, I play the game as I write so that I can get almost all the details accurate. Well, just as I was getting ready to finish the second chapter and on the game fight Igos Du Ikana, my game froze, and I got fed up so I let it be until now. So here's this chapter and I should get the other one up later today.....maybe.**

* * *

"Yee-hee-hee. What are you doing in a place like this? Ikana Hill beyond here is the place where spirits with troubles and lingering regrets wander. Even now, the spirits wander in search of one who can save them. It is unfortunate, but it is no place for one such as you….But if you must enter, then you must obtain the mask containing wandering spirits that can be found near the ranch. Without that mask, you cannot save their souls…Until then, I will not let you pass by here. Yee-hee-hee."

"Well, he's not creepy at all." Tatl said, commenting about the man who had just spoken to them.

They were on the trail leading to Ikana Canyon, not far from where the entrance to where the graveyard was. The path stopped abruptly at a high cliff that seemed impossible to climb, but there was a guy sitting at the top. He was dressed in a ragged white outfit with a torn purple cloak with the hood up. All they could see under the hood was one gleaming red eye. The guy also carried a walking stick, which he just bounced up and down as he looked down at Link and Tatl.

"Well at least Ilarie's advice has finally come in handy, we got that mask ages ago, put on the hood you got from those two brothers." Tatl said and Link did as he was told.

"Yee-hee-hee." The guy started. "That's a nice mask you're wearing. That is the mask of the leader of the ninjas who once spied on the hilltop castle with the blood-stained history. With that, you may be able to call out their spirits that even now are still wandering. Perhaps you may be able to save the souls that wander beyond here…Yee-hee-hee." As he finished speaking a tree that Link could hookshot onto appeared next to the guy, and then he slowly vanished.

"What is with all the dead people?" Tatl asked as Link got off Epona and hookshot up the cliff.

The path ahead of him was littered with fallen boulders, and even more huge stones were falling off of the cracked cliffs all around. Link put on the bunny hood to be able to quickly run through the area, and as he ran, oddly shaped enemies came up from the ground and tried to roll into him. Link managed to get through the path without getting hit, and then he entered out into a large open area. There was a river dead ahead of him with a small dock on the side he was on, and another small one on the other side of the river. Another cliff loomed up ahead of him, and he guessed this was the canyon and the castle everyone kept talking about was up on the cliff. Walking ahead slowly Link looked to his right and could see the thief that normally stole from the old lady was running around, not seeming to be doing anything wrong at the moment.

Link stopped at the sign that was next to the dock which read _'Ikana Butte across the canyon. Beware of Octoroks!'_. Link gazed up the cliff in front of him and the surrounding area and saw that there were small ledges with old dying trees along them so that he would be able to hookshot his way up the cliff if he could get across the water. When he drew closer to the river an Octorok splashed up, and Link shot it with an ice arrow, having gone to the store for supplies before he left Clock Town. The Octorok froze in his place, creating an iceberg for Link to jump onto to. Landing on the first Octorok, another one appeared behind it and Link also froze that one, leaping to the other side of the docks.

Facing the river Link looked to his right and hookshot up onto the tree that was on the ledge, and then looked to his immediate left, moving up another level. The last tree brought him up to the top level of the cliff, where he broke open one of the soaring statues. Link moved around the corner of the cliff that was blocking his view, and he looked out to the rest of Ikana Canyon. The path slopped upwards where there was a house with what looked like a music box on top of it, with a water wheel on its side where a river should have ran. Walking around the house were a bunch of Gibdos, which looked like mummies. Right across from Link was a large wall decorated with different symbols, which he assumed must be the outer walls of the ancient castle.

Moving up the path and to the left up another path, Link could see a broken down house next to the castle. Behind the broken house was another archway, sculpted to look like an open mouth, behind the cliff where the archway lead through was a large tower, made in such a way that it looked like it would topple over at any moment. On Links side there were only three other broken down houses, only one which would allow someone to walk into. On the far reaching right of the house was a cave opening, from which the river should have been running, down the small cliffs, past the music box house, and down into the river far below. Nothing moved now except for the mummies and the crows that flew around, and Tingle, who was just floating above Link. Bringing Tingle down to his level, Link bought the map of the area, and looked around a little lost as to what he was supposed to do next.

"It's a sad place, isn't it?" A voice said from behind him.

Link turned around to see someone sitting on the roof of the house behind him, and by the sound of the voice it was a girl. She was completely covered in a poncho like outfit, purple in colour with the symbol of the sheikhan on the front, stitched in red. The outfit came down to her feet, which were covered in soft brown leather boots. The sleeves fell well past her hands, and the hood was made so the collar came up to hide the lower part of her face, the hood hiding the rest of her head except for a small strip of ivory coloured skin.

The girl jumped down to stand beside him, standing at only five feet even, and looked at the map.

"You'll want to start in the cave." She said pointing at the spot on the map and then lifting her finger, the shape being the only thing seen through the fabric of the outfit, and pointed at the cave which the riverbed ran from. "If you can fix what's in the cave, the water will start flowing again and then the little girl who lives in the music box house with her father will unlock the door, maybe you could talk to them and find out what's been going on."

"Uh….thanks." Link said.

"No problem." The girl said and then turned and walked away, heading into the only house that someone could enter into.

Link looked up at Tatl, who was actually speechless for once, before he walked after the girl, bypassing the house and walking towards the cave. Just outside it was another sign post, which read _'Spring water cave. Entry prohibited due to ghost sightings!'_. Link ignored the sign and simply walked in the cave, figuring it was the other ghosts' brother.

The cave was very eerie, long pillars ran along what should have been the pool of the spring, and a couple stalactites hung from the ceiling. There were skulls littering the ground near the almost empty pool, and an odd purple vapour was coming from the center. Link drew closer to the pool, almost reaching it when a voice called out.

"What business have you in Ikana Kingdom, land where only the dead roam?" In the center, above what little purple water was left, a ghost appeared, dressed like the other they had met in the grave except in green and red. "This is no place for one as full of life as you. Or do you say that you wish to join the dead? That is fine….If that is the case, then sleep gently to the melody of darkness that the great composer, Sharp, shall play…and join the ranks of the dead." The ghost began waving the stick he used to conduct with, and an eerie song began to play throughout the cave suddenly. It seemed to suck the life right out of Link at the first notes, and he didn't waste anytime in pulling out his Ocarina and playing the Song of Storms.

"W-what is this? …This song?" The ghost asked as rain fell around him. "…N-No, it can't be. This song…" The ghost began to do back flips in the air and then suddenly he vanished.

The purple mist and skulls vanished with the ghost, and the little bit of purple water that was in the pool turned blue and began to rise. The water flowed out of the cave and Link could hear it crashing down the little cliffs, feeding out over the larger cliff and down into the river below. Suddenly the wheel of the music box house began to turn, and Link could hear the music flooding the whole area. He could also hear the mummies crying out in agony, and looking out through the mouth of the cave Link could see them disappear. Once they were gone the ghost of Sharp reappeared.

"Flat, my dear brother." He said. "Forgive your foolish brother who dreamt of the revival of the Royal Family…Ye who do not fear the dead…..With my brother's song, you have broken the curse that was placed upon me. It is all thanks to you. We dead should not be lingering here in this land. It was all a trick of the masked one who had upset things. If you truly do not fear the dead…I wish for you to go to the temple in this land and sever the root of the evil curse that torments us. To do that…I, the only one who knows the way into the temple, shall direct you to the king. The King is in the ruins of Ikana Castle, awaiting the coming of the one who will break the curse….I have made my final request." The ghost said and then vanished for the last time.

"Another dead person who wants us to do something for it." Tatl complained as they walked out of the cave and headed for the music box house. "Ah, well, could be worse. At least he's actually directing us to the temple."

"You know Tatl, every ghost that has asked us to do something for it, has helped us in the end." Link commented as they came around the side of the house.

When they got around the corner they saw a little girl with brown hair, a pink shirt and green pants looking at the river. As soon as she saw Link she turned around and ran into the house, locking the door behind her.

"That was odd of her, lock another human being out of her house." Tatl said.

"She's afraid of you." A familiar voice said. Link looked up and spotted the girl from before who had directed them to the cave, sitting on the roof of the house. "After all she hasn't seen another living being here in years, all that's been hanging around were those mummies, and I wouldn't have let them into the house either. Plus she's protecting her father."

"What do you mean?" Link asked.

"Drop a bomb in front of her door, don't worry it wont damage anything. Once she's out and away from the door sneak inside and go downstairs, you'll see what I mean."

As the girl simply stayed sitting on the roof of the house, Link did as she had told him to do, hiding on the side of the house with the water wheel. After the bomb blew up in front of the door, the girl opened it and walked outside, walking down to the other side of the house where she had first seen Link. Link quietly snuck up to the door and walked into the house without her seeing him.

The top floor had a simple dinning table set for two and a small fireplace on the right hand side. Everything was very colourful, which didn't surprise Link since it was a house that played music outside. Looking to the left Link spotted a set of stairs leading down to the basement. Following them down Link came to a single room which had a lot of odd drawings on the wall and the main system for the music. On the other end of the room was a single armoire, with its doors closed. Link walked towards it, seeing nothing else in the room, when its doors burst open, and a half mummified man came stumbling out.

"It's her father." The girl from the roof said, suddenly appearing behind him. "Find a way to heal him; I know you have the power to do so."

Link pulled out his ocarina and played the song that had changed him from a Deku Scrub back into a human, the Song of Healing. There was a flash of light and then a mask fell to the ground, the man back to his normal self.

"….Father?" The little girl said cautiously, having come back into the house and down the stairs. "Father!" She cried running into his arms.

"Pamela!" He said, holding her tightly and stroking her hair. "What have I been doing this whole time?"

"You….haven't been doing anything…" Pamela sobbed. "You had a bad dream. You were just having a little nightmare."

"…Pamela."

Link quietly moved over and picked up the Gibdo mask that had fallen and then turned around to see the other girl moving up the steps. Deciding to leave the two alone for the time being, Link followed her out of the house.

"Thanks for your help back there." Link said as he stood on the ramp of the house. "I don't know if I would have figured that out on my own before the little girl came downstairs."

"It's no problem," She said turning around to look at him. "These two have been here for awhile, I didn't want them to suffer, but I couldn't do anything, honestly I used you to help them, but hey, at least now with that mask the Gibdo's won't bother you."

"Yeah thanks….and I don't suppose you would know how to get into the castle though, would you?"

"No idea, go ask the father." She said and sat down in the dirt. "I'll wait here."

Looking at her for a moment Link shook his head and then walked back inside, hoping they had had enough time to catch up on things. The little girl was standing next to the fire so Link gave her a small nod and then moved downstairs to talk to the father.

"Oh! Isn't this a fairy?" He asked as soon as Link and Tatl walked up to him. "Is this yours, young man? I am a famed academic who researches fairies, ghosts and similar so-called supernatural phenomena. By the way, the song, Farewell to Gibdos, which the music box is now playing, drives away Gibdos. I discovered it after many years of researching Gibdos. In regards to ghosts, there isn't another academic who can match my knowledge, so ask me anything you like."

Link looked around the room for a moment and saw a picture the full body of a Gibdo. He walked over to it and studied it for a moment, and then the academic started talking again.

"Are you curious about that picture?" He asked, "That is a mummified man. Its scientific name is Gibdo. A tale in Ikana tells of a treasure that rests at the bottom of the well on the hilltop. It seems the spirits of those who became Gibdos upon entering the well in search of that treasure still linger inside. It's been said going down there is a petrifying experience. So even the mummy hunter may become mummified! I even tried to go into that well once myself…Strangely enough; I don't remember anything that happened there. Well, you never know what might happen, so it's simply best not to approach it."

"Yeah, I bet it would be better to stay away from it. I just remembered I have to do something, sorry but I have to go." Link said and waved goodbye.

He moved back up the stairs and went out the door and stood in front of the girl who was still sitting in the dirt.

"He said there was a treasure in the well; do you know anything about it?" He asked her.

"Not a clue." She said.

Link sighed and then turned to the right path, starting to walk up it, heading for the well, but before he could go very far the girl called out to him.

"You'll need five magic beans, ten deku nuts, ten bombs, a fish, and milk."

"What?" Link said turning around to look at her.

"I don't know, I just think it would be a good idea to have those things, don't you?" She asked, turning her head to look at him.

Link stared at her for a moment trying to decide if she was just plain crazy, or just acting stupid when he needed help with something. Deciding it was better safe then sorry he moved back down the path and headed for a place where she couldn't see him warp back to Clock Town.

"I'll just wait here." The girl called after him, quietly chuckling to herself as he left.

* * * * *

Three hours later Link walked back up to the girl who was still sitting in the same place.

"For your sake, I had better need all this, it cost me a small fortune for the things I couldn't find lying around." Link said as the girl stood up.

"As I said, I thought it would just be a good idea to have, let's go now." She said and moved off up the path.

They made their way around one of the houses and then up the path that lead to the left of the house she had gone in before. Sitting right before them once they reached the top was the well, with another sign warning against people entering because of ghosts. They carefully climbed down into the darkness, and came into a large entrance that held a single torch,

"Don't forget to put on that mask." The girl said as she walked ahead.

"What about you?" Link asked as he slipped it on. "Should you be going down here with nothing, wont the ghosts and the dead bother you?"

"Who says I'm not dead myself?" She asked in all seriousness.

"She got you there." Tatl remarked as they walked into a small room lit with four torches.

There was a Gibdo on the other side of the room, standing in front of a door that was locked by bars; another Gibdo was to their right in a little alcove, also guarding a locked door. As the three of them approached the one of the right, Link looked up at the girl to see if she was at all bothered by the curse of the well. Seeing that she was fine he looked at the Gibdo and nodded.

"Leeeeeave it! Leeeeeave it! Leeeeeave me something delicious to chomp on. Something that sprouts when it's watered. Preferably five of them…." It said, and Link held out the magic beans he had bought. "Ah! Thisss! Thissss! I bear you no remorssse!" It said, took the five beans and then burst into green flames and vanished.

Once the Gibdo was gone the bars of the door behind it rose and they walked through it. They came into another long hallway, water dripping from the ceiling. As they walked along the corridor there was an opening to the left, which held a freezard and a buba sprout. Avoiding that area they continued on until they reached the end of the corridor and turned left, where there were another two Gibdo, one in front of them and another to the left. The girl pulled Link to the one on the left, this one wanting something that made a blinding flash, and Link handed over the Deku Nuts.

The next hallway had fire bats flying around that Link had to take care of, and another two Gibdo, one right ahead of them and another one that was around the corner, and the girl again pulled Link to the one around the corner, who wanted refreshing blasts, meaning bombs. When they entered into the new room Link stopped dead. There was no other way to leave the room, and there were four floor traps circling it.

"You lead us to a dead end." Link said bluntly and turned to leave the room.

"You need what's in this room to go on though." The girl said and refused to move.

Link sighed and moved into the center of the room, and just as he did a big poe appeared out of thin air. The poe wasn't that hard to beat, it didn't seem too interested in fighting. It would simply spin towards Link with its lamp, which Link would block with his shield, and then he would fire an arrow at it. It only took about six arrows before it shrunk down to a little golden flame, which Link caught in a bottle. Without a word the girl turned and then lead the way back to the room where they had seen the freezard and went to the other Gibdo that had been there, who wanted something deliciously fresh, a fish.

The next room was just long and dark, with a Gibdo to the left halfway through, and then one at the end of the corridor. They walked right to the one at the end of the corridor, who asked for a big ghost. Link handed over the poe he had just gotten and the Gibdo allowed them through the door behind it. As soon as Link walked through the door he flinched, hearing metal against metal, not liking the sound of it. There was a torch right next to him so he lit it with a fire arrow to see what was making the noise. Once he could see, he noticed that the noise was made by spinning pole traps, a whole bunch of them along the corridor that were interlocking.

"Oh geeze." Tatl said, looking at them.

The girl that was with them simply ran forward, rolling and dodging all of the spikes until she was all the way at the end of the corridor, and she turned to look back at them. Link closed his mouth, which had been hanging open as he watched her move, and followed after her lead, only scratching himself a couple of time. At the end of the corridor there was another Gibdo to their right, who asked for something rich in calcium, so Link gave him the last thing he had, the milk.

The room they entered into was different then the others had been, it was square in the middle and filled with light from an opening in the ceiling high above them. There were four torches, at each corner of the room, a huge sunblock to their left high on the wall, a sun symbol on the wall in front of them, and a small dais with two steps leading up to it on their right. Link lit the four torches with his fire arrows and a chest appeared on the small dais. Walking over to it and opening it up he pulled out a mirror shield. Moving back into the sunlight, Link used the shield to shine lit on the sun symbol and a ladder appeared next to the sunblock. Using the shield again Link shone lit on the sunblock which vanished, leaving open a tunnel for them to go through.

They ran down the tunnel and came to the bottom of another well opening. Climbing up the ladder, they pulled themselves out into a courtyard, which Link came to realize was the courtyard of the ancient Ikana Castle. As they moved out around to the front of it Link stared in wonder at the huge castle. He stayed like that for a couple moments, the Clock Tower chiming the sixth hour of the night, before he turned his head and looked at the girl who was still standing next to him.

"You knew how to get here all along; you knew how to do everything didn't you?"

"Yep." She said turning to look at him. "My names Yawin, pleased to meet you." She said, extending her hand which was still covered by her sleeve.


	16. The Secretes of Ikana

**_A/N: _Sorry the two chapters today were a little on the short side, the next ones will be longer. The next post wont be until January, but I need opinions on how much I should write in the temple, little bit of both? All of one? Little help here please and thank you. I hope everyone is enjoying their holidays. Merry Christmas and a happy new year :)**

* * *

"What in the world are they doing!?!" Tatl asked in awe.

They had entered into the castle, the main entrance where there were four undead turning around and around in circles.

"I believe that they are dancing, they are reacting to Links mask, it sets them free in an odd way." Yawin explained as they looked around the room.

It was fairly large, square in shape, with four pillars holding it up in the center. In front of them there was another large sunblock that blocked the way forward, and both circular doors on the right and left walls were locked by bars. To the right, on the upper most pillar there was a golden eye switch that was frozen, and upon walking in the center of the undead and turning around, there was an eye on the left lower pillar. Choosing to go left first, Link shot that one and the door that had been on their left opened. Walking through the door they came to a checker board tile flooring, the top seeming to be piping hot. There was a lock door on the far end of the room, and a crystal right in front of them. Moving to stand next to the crystal, they turned to face the rest of the room, Link with his hands on his hips. They stayed silent for a moment, and then Link hit the crystal with his sword. The hot tiles rose to the ceiling, and Link could see little deku flowers dotting the floor, and a switch on a higher platform which was the only thing that could open the door beyond.

"Ah." Was all he said, and then put on the Deku mask. He hit the switch again and then ran as far as he could towards the pillar with the switch and then dove back into the deku flower. The ceiling fell above him, and he burst from the flower, sending the ceiling back up. As he buried into the flower again he thought he caught movement out of the corner of his eye, but he ignored it and flew out of the flower to land on the switch, turning back into his human form to put enough weight to open the door. Looking towards his destination he realized Yawin was already standing there, and he figured the movement he had seen was her running across the room. Hitting the crystal again with an arrow, he waited until the ceiling was fully up and then jumped down, running across the floor to meet up with Yawin.

The next room reminded Link of the Swamp Temple. It was a broken floor with only a couple of pieces remaining, those closest to pillars or the edges of the walls. There were mines hanging from the ceiling which Link exploded by using the hookshot to clank them together, and used his arrows to take out the skaltulahs that were hanging down. There was another Deku Flower in front of him and looking to the left Link saw another switch which would open up the door on the other side of the room. He burrowed into the flower as the deku and launched himself to the button, which was weighed down once he was a human. Turning around he watched as Yawin made an amazing leap onto thin air in front of him, and Link realized there had to be a hidden platform there. The two leaped from floor piece to floor piece all the way to the door and walked through it.

As soon as they walked through the door Link had to quickly bring up his shield as two Blue Bubbles came charging at them. When the skulls bounced off his shield Link pulled out his arrows and shot them down, and then they could move to the end of the hallway which had a set of stairs leading upwards. The stairs lead to another door, which they walked through and then came out onto the roof of the castle. To their right was nothing but open air past the edge of the roof, but to their left was a gate which blocked another area. The two walked down the roof and then pulled themselves up on the railing, walking along it until they came to the front, where an over hang stuck out with a deku flower at the end. Link burrowed into the flower and then floated his way over to a switch that was on one of the two pillars located by the front entrance of the castle; which moved a block over on the other side of the roof where they hadn't been. With that done they dropped down to the courtyard again and made their way back into the main entrance, moving through the door on their right this time through.

The next room they moved into swung back the same way the other room had, but this one seemed empty except for the sunblock that was on the other end of the room. They moved towards it, the block they had moved by hitting the switch allowed light to flood into the room. Link had his sword and shield out, and without knowing, the light bounced off his shield and struck an invisible floor master, which broke into three and Link simply had to sweep his shield across the light to kill those off also. Sending the light on the block, it vanished and revealed four of the undead, dancing since Link had the Gibdo's mask on. They moved past the undead to the door behind them and walked through.

As soon as the door closed behind them it was sealed by bars. Link looked around and saw four little portals on the ground and groaned just as the Wizrobe appeared, dancing around in a circle. He was a lot easier this time around, for some reason Yawin was able to point out exactly where he would be standing, even when he made the illusion of there being three others of him. At one point Link ran out of arrows, and then spent the rest of the fight running around where Yawin pointed and using his sword to hit the creature. Finally the thing died and they were able to move onto the next room, which again had four undead and a staircase leading up in the front. They exited back out onto the roof and moved around to the main area, where Tatl swung down by the ground.

"Here! See? You always miss things like this." She said, her light casting a glow on the ground. "Take a look….The rocks are cracked here!"

It was a large area that was cracked and Link knew that an ordinary bomb wouldn't be able to break through. Having thought better before he got there, Link put on the Goron mask and placed a Powder Keg on the area. The blast was enough to make a large hole in the roof, through which the three of them went down and landed in the main area again. The hole had opened up a large area for light to stream through and they were able to use the reflection of the light off Link's shield and dissolve the sunblock that had been blocking their way. Link put his shield away and they ran towards the open corridor, but before they went very far they could hear the undead moan behind them. Turning around they noticed that the light had reflected off Link's shield and had killed all four of them. They turned back around, Link feeling a little bad since they hadn't been doing anything and both Tatl and Yawin trying to suppress their snickers.

The corridor lead them to another door, and since it was the middle of the building, Link guessed that it was the throne room, where the king would be. Opening the door the three moved inside to find an empty room. Moonlight was pouring in from outside, illuminating the floor that swept over to the stairs which had the throne sitting on top of them. As they moved in however, they soon realized they were not alone.

"Oh insolent one, who has brought the unthinkable into a land as dark as Ikana." A voice said as the drapes began to lower over the windows. The voice continued speaking, and Link soon saw that it came from behind the throne. The skeleton of the King of Ikana and two of his warriors appeared, the king sitting down on the throne and the two warriors on either side of him. "You shall see what true darkness really is." The king finished and the two warriors began to move towards Link. Link did the only logical thing to do, before the warriors could get to him, he used a fire arrow and burned the drapes, which pissed off the king.

The fight with the two warriors wasn't as bad as Link first thought it was going to be. First of all the two worked together very well, and Link had to try and keep both of them in front of him at all times. They were horrible with their shield though, and Link was able to get past their defences very quickly, taking out the larger of the two first and using the light let in from the windows to burst him into flames, then the slimmer one was down, and also vanished in flames once the light hit him. Once the two were gone though the King stood up and pulled out a larger sword and shield then the other two had had.

The two warriors had been easy; the king on the other hand, was something else. He was a very good fighter and used his shield very well; the only way Link managed to get some strikes in was by hitting at his legs to knock him down. The king was also able to breath out some poisonous fumes, and could take his head off leaving him completely invincible. Link had a lot more trouble taking down the king, taking a good number of strikes from his blade. Finally though the king fell and Link took him out with the moonlight off his shield. When the king was gone the two heads of the warriors appeared, and the fat one knocked the smaller ones head out of the way.

"You're blocking me! Get out of the way! I can still get him!" The fast one said.

"B-blocking you?!" The slimmer said, "The reason he beat us is because you were so feeble! Don't blame this on me!"

"What?! Just try saying that again to my bony face!"

"Feeble!

Feeble! Feeble! Feeble! Feeble!

Feeble! Feeble! Feeble! Feeble!

Feeble! Feeble! Feeble! Feeble!"

"Shut up, already! Grrr!!! Don't look at me—I was once called the best swordsman in all of Ikana…."

"The greatest swordsman in all of Ikana? You? Feeeeeeeeeeble."

"…..Draw your weapon!"

"Huh?"

"I'm telling you to draw your sword!"

"……How?" The skinner one said and started laughing.

"Rrrrr-Ah!!!"

"Will you stop?!!? What fools!" The king yelled finally showing up again. "Haven't you begun to understand? The kingdom being ruined and us left in this state….Isn't it petty, little battles like this that have caused it?" The two vanished at the words of the king, and the king went on addressing Link. "Believing in your friends and embracing that belief by forgiving failure….These feelings have vanished from our hearts. It all happened after somebody thrust open the doors of that Stone Tower. You who bring light into darkness, I am the King of Ikana Kingdom, Igos du Ikana. The spellbinding that had been cast upon us was broken by that light which you carry. To return true light to this land, you must seal the doors of Stone Tower where the winds of darkness blow through. But Stone Tower is an impenetrable stronghold. Hundreds of soldiers from my kingdom would not even be able to topple it. It is far too reckless for one to take on such a challenge….And so….I grant you a soldier who has no heart. Once who will not falter in the darkness. You shall remember this song!" He said, and then started humming the notes, with Link playing them back, learning the Elegy of Emptiness. "This soldier who has no heart is your twin image. A shell of yourself that you will shed when your song commands it." The King vanished in thin air after he explained the song, and said one last thing before he was forever gone. "On my kingdom…shine the light of justice…."

"Well that was just a great meeting with the king, don't you think?" Yawin asked as she came to stand by Link, looking at the thing that somewhat looked like him.

"I have a question," Link said looking at her, "Where were you just now, while I was fighting the king and the two warriors?"

"Oh, you know, around." She said and turned to look at him. "You did a great job by the way."

"Thanks." Link said flatly. "Ok, you decided not to help me on that one, but can you at least help me get into the temple and maybe even help me through that?"

"Well, I can get you to the temple entrance." Yawin said as she turned and began walking out of the room, "The temple, now, we'll have to see about that one."

"Whatever I can get I'll take." Link said following her.

The two left the Ancient Castle through a hole in the outer wall and then made their way towards the archway Link had seen before, heading towards Stone Tower."

"Hey, just a question, but do you know what time it is?" Link asked as they walked.

"Yeah it's about two thirty in the morning." Yawin answered, and didn't carry on the conversation anymore then that.

"Oh dear God." Tatl said as they walked into Stone Tower.

It was a huge structure on the inside, and the first thing Link noticed, it was a long way down from where they were standing, so far down that he couldn't see the bottom. There were three large stones suspended in midair in front of them leading to the next platform. Looking up from where they were Link could tell that it was just more of the same thing, but with gaps in between where the platforms met. There were also large boulders falling from different places, and Link almost shrank back from the idea of going through with it.

Yawin simply jumped ahead across the platforms, waiting for Link to catch up once she was on the other side. Link had no choice but to follow, and he made the wide jumps until he was standing next to her.

"Alright, leave yourself behind on that switch." She said, pointing to the switch that was behind her.

Link did as she asked, standing on the switch and noticing the block that was behind him swung over to hit the other block, staying there. Playing the Elegy of Emptiness he left his figure behind and then they hookshot up to the next level, where there was a Beamos and a fire bat Link had to take care of. There was another switch which he used the Goron to leave behind an image and another one of the blocks raised high in the air, the level above them. Leaving that one behind they hookshot up to the next level, with another switch, which brought the other two blocks up to the level they were on. They jumped to the blocks and Link almost missed it, so he decided to wear the bunny hood to get enough speed to make the jumps a little easier.

They came to another platform with three switches on it, but Yawin pointed to the next level up where they could hookshot onto. Link pulled himself up on the next level and then quickly had to move to the right to avoid being hit by a large rolling boulder. Yawin instructed him to leave his image behind on the switch that was one their current platform, which did something Link could hear but not see. They hookshot up onto another platform that had another rolling stone and another Beamos. Link did what he had to do and then left the form of the Goron that was on the switch there, again doing something he couldn't see. Link hookshot up to the next level, and this time he could see what he had done by pushing the button that was there. Turning around they jumped across another set of three blocks, and hookshot their way up three more levels until they were on a platform right across from the entrance to the temple, which was a giant head and mouth again, ,just like the entrance to the tower itself. Yawin instructed Link onto which switches he had to press down first, there being three all together this time.

When the three blocks were in the right order the three moved across them, but Yawin stopped Link on the last block, and pointed out a crystal that was placed on the side of the entrance.

"See that Link, when you hit that, the whole tower turns upside down, so really, this temple can be considered as being two temples in one because you have to go through it the right side up, and then upside down."

"Oh that just sounds like a whole lot of fun." Link remarked as they jumped over the last gap and entered into the temple.

The area ahead of them was large enough, and Link could see how it could go upside down as well. Right now there was nothing but solid floor right up to the center of the room, where it dropped away a little to block off an entrance. There were two other entrances, one to the right and one to the left, though the one on the right was blocked. The ceiling itself seemed to just be a bunch of stone structures running around for decoration to each door, but Link knew that they were actually the real paths when the temple was flipped. Dragonflies were flying around the main area, and Link just stayed where he was, thinking things through before he took action, which had almost always kept him out of trouble…most times.

"Yawin, would there happen to be a Great Fairy in this area whose body has been broken and shattered?" Link asked.

"Actually, yes there is indeed. She lives in the house between the entrance to the tower and the ancient castle. She wasn't too happy about being broken up, I wasn't there when it happened, but she summoned me to her and asked if there was someway I could get into the temple and find the rest of her." Yawin answered, not moving ahead either.

"Yeah, and let me guess, her other parts are going to be both on this side of the temple and then some on the upside down part of the temple, right?"

"You are a very quick learner."

"I think this whole idea is stupid." Tatl said, "How in the world could a whole tower be flipped upside down, it just doesn't make sense."

"Does the dead asking for your help make sense either?" Yawin asked the fairy.

"Of course it does, they're dead, they can't move on for whatever reason, so they ask for help so that they will be able to move on, it makes perfect sense." The fairy argued.

"But does it make sense that they should be trapped in the first place?" Yawin countered.

"She got you there." Link said, trying to stay out of the argument as much as he could, he knew better then to get in between two females fighting with words.

"Whatever." The fairy said and flew under Links hat.

"Oh if only we could all just hide away from the world like she can." Yawin said softly enough so that Tatl couldn't hear her, but loud enough for Link to.

"Yeah, I know the feeling." Link agreed. "What time is it now?"

"It is exactly four in the morning, why do you ask?"

"At the rate we're going at now, would we be able to go through this whole temple and collect all the fairy pieces, put her back together, all before the Carnival of Time starts?" Link asked, worrying about his time again.

"Not likely, while I do know this temple somewhat, I do not know all the little tricks and traps that will set us behind, plus as you said, we need to collect all the pieces of the fairy, which can also be very troublesome, so no, we will not finish this whole temple in two days, at least I wouldn't risk trying it."

"Right, I would feel better too if I had the full three days instead of starting at the second day." Link muttered to himself.

"Sorry, what was that?" Yawin asked looking back at him after looking around the temple and judging their time.

"You're going to think I'm crazy on part of this story, the first part I'm pretty sure you've already figured out yourself. The moon is going to fall the night of the Carnival of Time. I just happened to stumble upon this place yesterday, so really I have three days to set everything straight in each region around here in order to stop the moon from falling, and at the end of the three days, I have to play a song which brings me back to the first day and then I have to start all over again some where's else, and no one remembers who I am except for Tatl." Link said all in one breath to get the worse over with.

"Cool, so why not just play the song, I'm standing here with you so I should get caught up in its magic and be brought back to the first day with you just like your fairy." Yawin said.

"….cool?....That's it? I tell you this out of the world story and all you can say is cool?" Link said eyes wide with disbelief.

"Buddy, I live in a world where ghosts walk around, mummies stalk the only humans in the area, all this on top of a cliff away from all civilization. Nothing can surprise me anymore, I believe that anything can happen and everything is possible." Yawin explained in a very calm voice.

Link looked at her for a moment longer and then just shook his head, pulling out his ocarina, thankful there had been a soaring stone at the platform right across from the entrance. Once he knew Yawin was close enough to be caught up in the song, Link played the Ocarina of Time and transported the three of them back to Day One.

There was a flash of light and then they were standing in front of the Clock Tower, and Link could tell something was wrong with Yawin. She was standing very stiff with her hands held at her side, and she didn't move a muscle.

"Ah, Yawin?" Link asked as he stood in front of her, a little worried something had gone wrong.

"There's a lot of people here." She said quietly as she stood rock still, "I'm going to get noticed, I don't fit in with what they are wearing, I'm an odd ball to them, and that dog running around over there is giving me the evil eye."

"It's alright Yawin, they're not going to stare….too much, I mean they have Gorons and Zoras here all the time, it's not like their new to having someone different walking down their street, and besides, we don't need to go to the busier part of town, we just need to go to the right and get some money out of my bank so I can buy supplies instead of wasting the time and going around and finding everything." Link reassured her.

"Yeah, sure, easy for you to say, you look like everyone here, you fit right in minus the fairy." She mumbled under hear breath as she followed Link to West Clock Town.

Link took out just enough money to buy some bombs and some arrows, figuring he wouldn't be needing anything else since he never seemed to, he wasn't even sure he was going to need bombs but he wanted to be safe on that side. Once he had everything that he needed he went to North Clock Town into the corner near the slide where no one would see them and played the Song of Soaring. They ended right back at the platform across from the temple entrance.

"There, now we have the full three days to get through this temple." Yawin said as she waited for Link to replace the stone blocks.

"Yeah, lovely, three days stuck with the nutjob." Tatl said under her breath as she floated well above their heads so she wouldn't be over heard. Not that she cared, she just didn't want to get swatted at again, honestly, some people just couldn't handle constructive criticism.


	17. Stone Tower Temple

**_A/N: Special thanks to TwilightWolf79, for giving me a small shove and reminding me that there are people waiting for me to update this story......_**

**_For everyone else, this is a very short chapter because I HATE this temple with a passion, so deal._**

* * *

"So exactly how hard is it going to be to collect all the shards of the fairy?" Link asked as the trio walked back into Stone Tower Temple.

"Eh….lets just say that it is good we have three days to do everything because we will defiantly need it." Yawin answered as Link took out the dragonflies in the entrance room of the temple.

"I really wish you would joke around sometimes." Link muttered as he followed Yawin.

They made their way across to the left side of the room, ignoring the bombchu that was running around on the center platform since it wouldn't be able to reach them anyway. They walked around a small gate and then through the left door, entering into a long hallway. Link took out the bombchu that was running around to their right before they moved forward. Ahead was a wall that had long cracks in it, a small switch to their left, and another long hallway to their right. Moving down the hallway they found two more bombchus, two more small switches on their right and dead ahead, a giant switch to the left, and a gate across from the switch on their right. Moving back to the wall, Link blew it up with a bomb and revealed a couple of crates and boxes. Picking one box up he ran with it to the first switch they had seen and dropped it down. Moving back down the hall Link weighed the large switch down with the Goron figure, and the other two with his Zora and human self. Once all the switches were weighed down the gate opened and they moved out into a courtyard.

It was very simply made, with only a couple weeds in the center for decoration. To their right was a door locked by chains, a dragonfly over to their left, a hallway straight ahead of them which was on the ceiling portion, and then to the right of it was a stairway. Link made his way to the staircase, but before he could make his way down Yawin pulled him up short.

"Uh Link, look at the ground to our left, see those four square looking tiles? I think you can blow them up."

Link walked over to where she had been pointing and dropped a bomb, and sure enough, the tiles exploded to reveal a large opening. Turning around to thank her, all Link got was her back as it passed around the corner down the stairs. Running to catch up, Link entered into a small square room. The room was cut in half by a lava pool, a sun block directly across from him. On either side of the path leading towards the sun block were two statues with jars on either side of them and one on each side of the sun block itself. Link walked forward into the square of light that was coming from the hole they had made in the courtyard and made the sun block vanish, revealing a small alcove that had a treasure chest and two more statues. Turning into Darmani he walked across the lava and opened the chest to find the dungeon map. Still as Darmani, Link went to the two status in the alcove and punched them to make them come alive, and then again to destroy them. Doing the same for the two that had been on either side of the sun block, a chest appeared in the center of the lava. Opening the chest, Link pulled out a key and then made his way back to the staircase.

"I found a key." He said turning back into his human self.

"And I found a fairy." Yawin said showing him the little fairy that was flying around her.

"How did you find it?" Link asked in disbelief, though all he got was a shrug of her shoulders and her retreating back as she made her way upstairs.

Making their way back up into the courtyard, they moved over to the locked door and used the key Link had just gotten. Walking through the now open door they entered into another odd room. There was a large pool of water making the inner most center of the room, with a fenced in bridge leading from the right to the left. To their left was another sun block blocking their way, and nothing to their right. With no other option available, Link pulled on the Zora mask and dove into the water. Link swam under the bridge and headed for an opening to his far left. Not paying attention though, he was grabbed by a Dexihand, and after it threw him through the water some, tossed him up onto dry land. There Link opened another chest and pulled out another key. Link jumped back into the water, this time Yawin meeting up with him, and being careful, swam down the water pathway and out into yet another water filled room.

While Yawin swam up to surface, Link swum down to where he could see another switch. Taking out the skeleton fish and baby deku's that were along the bottom, Link hit the mines that were around the switch to blow them up so he could get to it. Once everything was gone, Link stepped on the switch, a chest appearing upside down on the platform over him. Not being able to get it, Link swam up to the surface and climbed out of the water on the platform that ran across the middle of the room.

"Anything useful?" Yawin asked, having also seen the switch.

"Nothing I could get to at the moment." Link answered pulling off the Zora mask.

To their left was the beginning of a hallway that was blocked by a sun block, a mirror on the side. To the right was another locked door. Link looked around and saw a frozen switch over the archway to their left. Shooting it with a fire arrow, a chest appeared on the ceiling over the door to their right. Sighing, Link looked around some more and noticed a ray of light shining down not far from the sun block. Using his mirror shield, Link bounced the light over to the mirror on the wall, the light hitting the sun block. Once the way was clear they moved down that way, ignoring the locked door for the time being. Moving down the hallway they found a chest set aside in a small alcove, finding a compass inside. Continuing on they moved through the door at the end, and entering out into the entrance room again.

"Guess we go through the locked door." Tatl commented.

"Yep." Link agreed and they turned around and moved back to the locked door, using the key they had found to open it.

The new room was a complicated one, or at least Link thought so. There was a large circular pillar in the middle of the room, three sun faces on the right wall, another two sunblocks: one on the right hand side of the room and one directly on the other side of them, and another mirror on the left hand side of the room, another circular pillar on the other side of the one in front of them with mirrors along its edges. Link turned back into a Goron and knocked the pillar in front of them out of the way, revealing an opening in the ceiling letting in light. Only once the light was let into the room did Link realize there were small little black blobs sliding around the room. Changing into a Deku, Link swirled around the room getting rid of them, wondering why now was the only other time he had run into the little black creatures other then the Swamp Temple.

Moving back to the ray of light, Link bent down to bounce the light off his shield into the mirror on the left, charging it with the light. As he stood there though, another little black creature came after him, forcing him to drop his shield to take it out, loosing all the light he had placed into the mirror.

"Argh!" Link said as he went back to work, just as another black creature came after him.

"Allow me, Link." Yawin said, and two, slender swords dropped down from her sleeves, one in either hand.

As Link worked around with the mirrors, Yawin moved around with him, striking at the black creatures before they could ruin his work again. Eventually Link had both sun blocks cleared, one revealed a path leading to another door, the other leading to a chest that had contained a fairy. Link had also burned up the sun faces that had been on the wall, revealing another fairy. The three moved down the hall behind the sun block and entered through another door.

Ahead of them was a drop, leading down into a lake of lava. To their far left was another door, but it was behind a gate that blocked their path. Between the gate and the door on the other side was a chest surrounded by flames.

"There is another fairy in there, I can sense it." Yawin said as she looked at the chest.

"So how are we going to get to it?" Link asked.

"There must be a switch in the lava on the other side of this gate, you should go down and see. Once it is hit you need to come back here and use the air vents that we can see to blow yourself across as a deku." She answered.

"Alright, I can do that, but how exactly do you plan on getting across?"

"I have my ways." Was all he got as she folded her arms across her chest.

"…..Ok…." Link said as he changed into a Goron.

Dropping down into the lava, Link ground pounded a switch that was there and then rolled around the vents to the other side of the gate where he hit a blue switch. Rolling back to the other side he climbed up the ladder that was there and pulled himself back onto the platform they had been on. Looking around, he spotted Yawin already on the other side of the gate, releasing the fairy that was in the chest. Shaking his head, Link turned into a Deku and used the deku flower that was in front of him, along with the air vents, to propel himself to the other side of the gate next to Yawin.

"I see you found the fairy." He said as they walked towards the door that was there.

"Yes, and I also found another one on the ledge back there." Yawin answered casually.

Link didn't have time to answer her however, because just as they had walked through the door, it slammed shut behind them and was locked by bars. They had entered into a large square room with a breeze blowing in from the large opening in the ceiling. Looking up Link saw someone standing on the edge of the opening. Whoever it was laughed before jumping down in front of them. He was dressed in the same poncho like clothing as Yawin, but his had orange strips around the edges without the symbol on the chest, and he was wearing an odd gold mask. Slowly standing up he pulled out twin swords to Yawins, but his burst into flames as he started towards the group.

"Link keep your shield up and run wide when he leaps into the air!" Yawin warned, "This is a Garo Master."

Heeding her words Link kept his shield up, reading to face the challenge. Once the Master jumped into the air Link ran a wide arc, and when the Master was back on the ground he moved in fast to strike at him. What surprised him though was that Yawin came in from the other side as well, helping Link out. With both of them attacked the Garo Master, it was no time before he fell to one knee and spoke.

"To think I could be defeated….Although my rival, you were spectacular. I shall take my bow by opening my heart and revealing my wisdom…If you shoot that which releases the sacred golden light into the blood-stained, red emblem outside the temple….it shall rearrange things, in which the earth is born in the heavens and the moon is born on the earth. Do not forget these words….Die I shall, leaving no corpse." He said, holding out a bomb which exploded, leaving no remains. "That is the law of us Garo." His final words echoed around the room.

Once he was gone the doors unlocked and a chest appeared in the center of the room. Walking over and opening it, Link pulled out an arrow that was covered by light.

"Great, now we can flip the temple and move on." Tatl said.

"Right after we do some back tracking and pick up some fairies we missed." Yawin said moving towards the opposite door from which they had entered.

"Oh…boy." Link said, following after her.

* * * * *

"I really feel like crying right now." Link muttered as they entered through what he had been hoping would have been the last door.

They had spent the entire night going through the flipped side of the temple, back tracking, and going through the un-flipped side of the temple in search of the remaining fairies and the final key. When they had used the last key Link was hoping he would be face to face with the boss door, but he had no such luck. Instead in front of him was once again an Eyegore. Sighing he moved forward, stunning it with a light arrow when it smashed its fists down trying to smush him. It only took two hits with the light arrows, and when it vanished the door behind it opened, but then a chest appeared in front of Link. Walking over towards it, Link opened it and pulled out a mask.

"What is this?" He asked, looking at Tatl and then Yawin.

"It is called the Giants' Mask. The boss in here is giant, and the only way to fight it is to become its size by wearing this mask. It uses a lot of magic power." Yawin answered him as she moved forward.

"Ah, that's why you had us go back to town earlier." Link answered following her.

Once they had finished up the normal side of the Temple, Yawin had said they had needed to go back to town to get some special milk from the Milk Bar. Figuring she knew best Link had followed her advice and had purchased the two hundred rupee milk, one that made his magic infinite. Now that he knew he would need this mask to defeat the boss, he was glad he had listened to her and not Tatl, who had told him to hurry up and just move on through the temple.

The next room they entered into had a large spike trap falling from the ceiling which they ignored, Link hookshooting them up onto the upper platform by hooking onto a chest. When they landed on the gate, there was another spike trap rolling along it, and Link hookshot them away from it to the other side by a target on the ceiling, dropping them down to a lower level. They made their way along a ledge and then dropped down to the floor, right in front of the boss door. Using the boss key they opened the door, finally moving into the final boss room.

It was another empty room with a large circle in the floor, so they dropped through the hole and landed on a platform, surrounded by nothing but a sea of sand. The ground began to shake beneath their feet, and then from behind them a large red sand serpent erupted from the sand, twirling around them. Link thought this would be an easy fight, but then as the red serpent moved around them, a blue one emerged from the ground.

"This is Twinmold, Link, you should have no problem fighting it with the Giants Mask, simply aim for the tail." Yawin said, and stood back to watch Link fight.

The battle was long and annoying for Link, the serpents did nothing but move around the area and dive back into the sand. What seemed like forever for him, the blue serpent finally fell, and not long after the red one followed. Finally it was all over. Taking off the mask, Link ran over to Yawin who was standing on the platform they had first landed on, next to the remains of the serpents. Together they moved into the blue light which took them to the final giant.

"Well, we've helped all of you. That's all we can do." Tatl said. "Call us. That's what they're saying." She said when the giants began to speak. "Without being told, we understand. So now you'll help us out in exchange! We'll call you from atop the Clock Tower, so do something about him, all right? What, their voice sound sad… you don't want to?" There was a flash of light and then the final words of the giant. "Forgive your friend. Forgive our friend? Huh? What do you mean? What friend?"

When they opened their eyes again they were standing outside the music box house, turning around there was a bright globe behind them. The globe shot upwards and broke apart in the sky, turning it back to blue, the spirits that had been haunting the place finally leaving.

"Alright Link, one more stop, we have to go see the Great Fairy." Yawin said, and then lead the way to the fountain, which was hidden in one of the old houses.

When they entered into the fountain the little pieces of the fairy left Yawin and went to join the rest of them, a Great Fairy with orange hair emerging from their light.

"Oh, compassionate young one!" She said to Link, "I am the Great Fairy of Kindness. Thank you for returning my broken and shattered body to normal. As thanks, I grant you the Fairy's Sword." She handed Link a giant sword, the sword that was the strongest of all blades. "Come see me whenever you are overcome by weariness." The Great Fairy said and then vanished.

"What time is it?" Link asked Yawin as they turned around and walked out of the fountain.

"It is noon, on what you call the Second Day." She replied as they stood at the edge of the cliff overlooking the river.

"It is good we went back to the First Day; there would be no way we would have finished with enough time to do anything anyway.

"Link." Yawin said turning to look at him, "I do not know what you're trying to do, but I thank you for taking the time to try and save this land, a land that is not your own. I'm sure you'll fix our troubles here, and then be able to move on and solve your own."

"……Thank you Yawin, I really hope you're right. I'm all but certain I can fix things here; I've been through something a little worse then this before. But for the second thing, if finding my friend, I'm not so sure about, I don't even know where to begin looking for her, I don't know where she was originally from, or even if I did, I wouldn't know how to get there." Link answered looking back at her.

"Just believe Link, if it is meant to be then it is meant to be, don't worry if things don't happen right away, everything will work out in the end for the best. Now I believe it is time for us to part, I wish you the best on your journey." Yawin said and bowed. Link went over to shake her hand goodbye, but as he drew close she pulled her hand forward, throwing a deku nut on the ground, vanishing from sight.

"Man I hate when they do that." Link laughed and turned around to head back to Clock Town.

Up on the hill, on one of the rooftops, Yawin watched as Link turned around and left. She stayed there for a moment toying with something in her hand before she reached up to her face and pulled off her mask. There was a flash of light and another girl stood in her place.

"Not much longer now Navi." She said as a fairy came over to join her.

"I hope not, he looks tired, he went through a lot as a kid in Hyrule, but not exactly this much." Navi replied.

"Well, he just needs a couple more things and then he'll be able to go up against the Masked Imp." The girl said turning to make her way down the path, twirling two masks in her hands.


	18. Purple Hair Kid

**_A/N: I would like to thank all my readers for being so patient with me. I have to admit, my whole life started to fall apart around January and I still havent fixed everything yet. I am sorry it took so long to get this chapter up, and it was actually done three days ago, but now my laptop wont connect to the internet.....so I'm using mymoms right now. I've already started the next chapter, so expect it by the end of the month._**

* * *

"Are you out of your mind?!? You are a crazy b-"

"TATL!!" Link shouted as he turned his head slightly upwards to glare at his fairy.

They had arrived back in Clock Town, expecting to just take the rest of the time to sit back and relax before they would have to go up against the Skull Kid. When they had arrived back however, Ilarie had been waiting for them in front of the giant clock where she had then preceded to tell them that they weren't done yet and couldn't go up against the Skull Kid at the end of this set of three days like they had planned.

"I am sorry Tatl, but it would be much easier for Link if he were to wait and finish collecting all the masks. The end battle depends on him finding the rest of the masks." Ilarie replied.

"Oh yeah, like finding these little masks will make much of a difference." Tatl huffed, staying away from the other two.

"Ilarie," Link began, "I know you mean well, but I would really like to continue what I was doing before I got pulled into this. Is finding the masks really that important?"

"Link," Ilarie said in a serious voice as she allowed her arms to fall by her side as she gazed at him, "I know you are a very brave fighter, and you may be alright without them, but you would come out of that battle barley alive if you do not heed what I am saying. Find all the masks, and it would make the fight a thousand times easier for you. You will see what I mean when you get there."

"Well, that settles it." Link said turning to look at the fairy. "We're going to finish getting the masks and then we can go on our way, what difference does it make anyway? We keep going through the same three days over and over again so it's not like we're really on a tight schedule Tatl." Link then turned his head to look at the Keaton. "So where do we go now? I hope there's not too many masks left, even though we have all the time in the world really, I am starting to feel the strain of going through all of this stuff."

"Of course Link, you really only have three more masks to collect which you can get all in the three days. You have the Keaton's mask, the Postman's hat, and the Couples Mask, with them you could also fill your bombers notebook and be done with helping the people if you so chose to do so, though that would mean an extra three days after you collected the masks."

"Alright, that sounds good, so where do we start?" Link asked sitting down, figuring it would take awhile for Ilarie to explain everything.

"You already have Kafei's Mask so that is a good start. Now what you need to do is go back to the first day, after two in the afternoon go to the Stock Pot Inn and give your name, there will be a room reserved, do not ask why though. Once the Post Man enters into the Inn and delivers a letter to Anju, talk to her using the Kafei Mask and she will ask to meet with you. I will meet with you after all this has happened so that no instructions shall be forgotten."

"Alright then, let's get going." Link said standing up. Once he was sure Ilarie had nothing else to say he played the Song of Time and returned to the First Day.

"Great," Tatl said sarcastically, "Now what are we going to do, waiting around here with nothing better to do then go and find a couple of stupid masks."

"You know, you've become really bitter towards other people over the past while." Link commented as he began walking towards the Laundry Pool.

"Yeah well all this stuff is starting to get to me, I just want to get my brother back and move through time like a normal fairy." She said as she floated slowly after him.  
"Ah well, look at it this way, we have time to relax now." Link said as he sighed entering the pool. Walking down to the river he flopped down on the grass and closed his eyes.

Next thing that Link knew, Tatl was bouncing off his head and yelling something at him.

"What do you want now?" Link asked and rolled over onto his side, trying to swat her away, though gently.

"Link it's two in the afternoon! We have to be going to the Inn now; I don't want to have to go through all this waiting again! So wake up!" She yelled and started bouncing even harder off his head.

"Ok, ok, I'm up." Link said sitting up.

He stretched as he gave out one long yawn and then crawled to his feet, rubbing his eyes some as the pair made their way towards the Inn. When they walked in Link was a little nervous as he approached the desk, he would have liked to know why he would have reservations again since he hadn't seen Ilarie when he had walked to the pool this morning, and she had said not to ask why he would have them this time.

"Welcome to the Stock Pot Inn…" Anju said as she bowed to them. "Umm….Did you have a reservation?" She asked, to which Link replied yes. "You do have a reservation? That's good…Mr. Link, is it? One moment, please." She said and checked her books. "Mr. Link, I have you down for an afternoon arrival. Your room is our 'Knife Chamber' on the second floor. Here is your room key." She said and handed over the key. "Please relax….."

"Thank you." Link said and took a step back from the desk, but just as he did the Post Man came in. Not wanting to miss anything that could important, Link pretended to fiddle for something in his pocket as the Post Man held out a letter to Anju.

"Ah!" She gasped. "Uh, uh, uh, umm, umm…..What is this?" She asked.

"I have delivered this to you!" The Post Man answered.

"Ah! Wait!" Anju said as she read it. "This letter, wh-where did you?!?"

"From the postbox."

"Th-that's not what I mean! From the postbox where?!?"

"From the postbox somewhere."

"That's not what I mean!" Anju said getting flustered.

The conversation between the two continued as such for awhile, Link just standing to the side and knowing he would have to show her the mask soon. Soon enough the post man turned around to leave, and once the door was closed behind him, Link walked back up to Anju with the Kafei mask on.

"You're also looking for Kafei?" She gasped. "I have a request! Kafei…. I have a clue…. That will help you find him. Tonight at 11:30, please come to our kitchen. We'll talk then….."

Link agreed to do so and then took off the mask, moving around the corner to go up the stairs and to the room where he had spent another couple of nights before. Taking off all his equipment he moved over to one of the beds and jumped down on it.

"What are you doing?" Tatl asked floating over to him.

"Tatl, I am tired, I have been through hell over the past couple of weeks, and I want to spend as much time as I can sleeping so that even though we have to go and do all these things, I will at least be more rested then what I would have been had we just gone up against the Skull Kid and that stupid mask." He replied closing his eyes.

"Good point." Talt said and flew over and rested on the other bed.

* * * * *

Link woke up to the ringing sound of a bell, which in fact turned out to be Tatl trying to wake him up again. The fire in the fireplace of the room had burned out, so only her yellowish glow gave any light.

"It's quarter after eleven Link, we need to be going downstairs in the kitchen now." She said, for once softly, thinking of the other people in the rooms next to theirs.

Link got up and ran a hand through his hair before he put his hat, which had fallen off during his sleep, back on and made his way out the door. When he moved past the last door before the stairs he paused to listen, but couldn't hear any sound coming from it. Shrugging his shoulders he moved down the stairs and down the hall to the kitchen. When he got there Anju hadn't arrived yet, and he hoped she wouldn't forget. The clock slowly ticked by as he stood by the small pool of water that held a fish. Midnight struck and finally Anju walked into the kitchen behind him.

"I am sorry to trouble you late at night. It's about him…Kafei. I received a letter from….him. Strange….Isn't it? Getting a letter from a missing person…. But there's absolutely no mistaking it's from him! It's clear… to me ….. Please!" She begged, bowing to him, "Here is my letter. Please put this in a postbox. When this is delivered….When he receives my letter…You should be able to meet him! Please tell him that Anju is waiting for him. And please, after you've seen him…Tell me how he looked. I'm scared…I…I can't go. Can I ask this of you?" And when Link answered yes, she continued. "Thank you….very much." She said with a bow and gave Link the new letter. "Please mail it immediately in the morning." She said and with one more bow she was gone.

"Alright then….back to bed?" Tatl asked with a yawn. Link agreed with her and the duo went back upstairs, Tatl promising to wake Link up first thing in the morning so they could mail the letter.

* * * * *

"Hey Link? It's nine in the morning." A distant voice said.

It took Link all of ten seconds before the meaning of those words sunk in and he sat bolt upright in his bed, coming face to face with the fairy who had been supposed to wake him up three hours previous.

"The good news is I know the postman hasn't gone by yet." The fairy said which only helped slightly to lower Link's anger.

"Well that's a good thing for you." He said as he stood up, grabbed the letter he was supposed to have put in a mail box by now, and dashed outside.

The rain had already started and Link was soaked by the time he made it to the post box that was next to Honey & Darlings shop, diagonal from the Inn. Slipping in the letter, Link looked around to see if the post man was around. When he didn't see him he looked back up at the fairy who had wisely followed him outside.

"I need to get cleaned up before I do anything else today, you stay here and watch for the post man, when he shows up follow him if I'm not back yet, I want to know where he goes with the letter." Link told Tatl, and since she didn't seem about to argue, he turned around and went back into the Inn.

Link took about an hour to wash up, get dressed in clean clothes, and get all his equipment back on. Since he had done Anju a favour by putting the letter in the post box, when he went back down the stairs he asked her if he could borrow an umbrella. She handed one over without a second thought and Link was soon back out the door, moving across the street to join with his fairy again, who was not happy in the least, soaking wet. With the two of them under the umbrella, they stood and waited, watching the twins across the street still juggling between the two.

At around quarter to eleven the post man finally made an appearance. He came down the steps from the upper part of the area, around the mayors office, and made his way down to the post box Link and Tatl were standing near. With a small nod to the two, he opened the mail box and took out the letter. Looking briefly at the name on it, he turned back around and made his way back towards the center of the town.

Link and Tatl gave him a couple seconds head start before they slowly began to follow him, making sure to keep their distance so they wouldn't be suspected. They followed him through the main part of town and then back to West Clock Town where he made his way back into the post office at exactly noon. There was another bench by the door of the post office, which Link sat down upon to start his waiting once more.

One hour later, at one in the afternoon, the post man left the office, and the duo started following him once again. He made his way from West Clock Town to the center of town, up to East Clock Town, back to South Clock Town and then down to the laundry pool. Link followed him down the path and hid behind the large tree there as the post man moved up to the bridge that ran over the water and rang a bell that hung there. Across the small river the back door of some building opened and a small child with purple hair, and wearing a Keaton Mask stepped out. Link watched as the kid walked over to the post man, who handed over Anju's letter to him.

"That's weird." Tatl said as the two watched the boy talk to the post man for a bit before the kid turned around and moved back inside the building.

"Yeah….." Link agreed his head already in motion. "Let's see if we can get in there also." He said once he was sure the postman had left the area.

Link crept around the tree and moved quietly up and over the bridge, making his way down the path towards the door. To his delight, the door was unlocked, and moving through it, he found himself in a small corridor, with a narrow stairway leading up his left. Moving up the steps Link finally reached a very small square area which contained a bed, some crates, and a writing desk. Standing in front of some of the crates next to the bed was the kid.

"Green hat…..Green clothes…." Said the kid, "Anju wrote about you in her letter. It seems you are looking for Kafei…..Can you keep a secret?" he asked, to which Link said yes, "Anju trusted you. I shall also trust you." He said, and then pulled off his mask. "I am Kafei."

"The Kafei we're looking for is an adult." Tatl stated, "When I look at you, I just see a child."

"I was turned into this by a strange imp wearing a mask…." Kafei answered, "But I'm not hiding because I look this way. When I was turned into this, I went to see the Great Fairy in the shrine near the North Gate….But on the way, my precious mask – a wedding ceremony mask – was stolen from me by some prancing man with a grinning face!"

"Well….you're just careless. You're like my partner…." Tatl said.

"Before my wedding ceremony I was quite happy. I was targeted because of what I had been turned into."

"Oh my. I pity you."

"I know Anju is worried…but I can't go out yet. I made a promise to her that I would bring the wedding mask and greet her. This pendent…." He said as he put his mask back on and pulled off the necklace that had been around his neck. "Give it to Anju. Keep what we just walked about a secret from everyone."

"I will, don't worry, I'll bring Anju the pendant right now." Link said, waving goodbye as he turned around and left.

Link wasted no time going through the city and making his way back to the Inn. When he got inside Anju was still standing at the desk, which was a bonus for him. Walking up to the desk, Anju greeted him before she stated what was bothering her.

"Oh….Did you meet him?" She asked, and Link handed her the pendant. "Ah!...It's from Kafei. Th….Th…Thank you…Very much! I have decided to wait for him. I've made my promise….I'm fine with this. I believe him." She finished, and Link walked away from a very happy person.

"You know, that actually felt good, being able to help her like that." Tatl said as they made their way back to their room.

"Why Tatl, you do have a heart after all." Link joked.

* * * * *

Link and Tatl had spent the rest of the time of the second day hanging around the town, going to the different shops and playing the games. In the late afternoon of the third day they were sitting in their room watching the burning fire when Ilarie walked into the room.

"Hey, what's up?" Link asked her when he saw the odd look on her face.

"Link, something is not right." She said as she seated herself on the bed. "When I was walking last night I was sure I saw Kafei running towards the canyon, though I could be wrong. I think it would be a good idea if you were to go to where you had met him yesterday to make sure everything is alright. I will wait here if you need me." She answered.

Since Ilarie had always been right about everything before, Link didn't even consider not doing as she asked. Grabbing all his stuff again just in case, Link and Tatl went out of the Inn and back to the laundry pool. Entering the building, Link made his way back up the stairs, but instead of Kafei, the man from the Trading Post was standing there.

"Huh?" The man said, "You the Green Hat Kid? I got a message from Kafei. Now Kafei…I've known him since he was real little…But when he showed up looking all young in that little brat body, I didn't know what I was seeing! All it took was one glance at that Keaton Mask he was carrying for me to realize that I was looking at my old friend. I gave him that mask a long time ago when he was just a li'l Kafei. Didn't know he kept it that well for so long…. I'm not sure why, but…I want to give this to you." The man said and then handed over the Keaton Mask. "Now Kafei…He says he wants you to take this to his mother." The man said and then handed over another letter. "A customer came to my shop last night….Now Kafei sees him, and Kafei's color just changes and he goes runnin' after the guy. The guy's a regular…. A greedy thief name Sakon. I think he's from Ikana Village…."

Link thanked the man for the mask and then moved back down the stairs and out into the laundry pool.

"I don't like the sound of what happened." Tatl said as they walked back towards town.

"Neither do I, I'm pretty sure I've seen that guy before, running around the canyon, last time we were there." Link answered and slowed his pace.

"It sounds like he was the one who had stolen Kafei's mask, meaning that he would have gone to the Canyon to try and take it back from him." Tatl answered, continuing Link's train of thought.

"Yep, and do you really think that Kafei will be able to get it back from the guy all on his own? In the state of mind that he's in?"

"Nope." The fairy flatly said, and the two moved through town and headed towards the canyon as the day stretched on.

It was almost six when the duo arrived at the bottom of Ikana Canyon, and after looking around for a bit, they moved up the path to the right instead of going up to the little ghost village. They followed the river for awhile before they came out to a broad area, a couple fallen stones to the upper left, and a large opening that was blocked by a boulder with a sign next to it. Link walked up and read the sign out loud.

"_Sakon's Hideout. Protected by impenetrable security_…. Well, he's not very discrete is he?" Link said looking to Tatl.

"Nope, and I bet you anything Kafei is behind the jumble of rocks over there." She responded.

Sure enough, when they walked over towards the rubble, talking along the way so Kafei would know it was them, he was hiding behind the tallest bit.

"I found him, green hat boy…He's using this place as his safe house for keeping his stolen goods. Apparently, his name is Sakon. He came to the shop last night, and I followed him. His storage for the things he's stolen is on the other side of this rock door. Only Sakon can open it. The only way in is to wait for Sakon to arrive. I'll wait….I've made a promise to Anju. He will show up."

"Alright, we'll stay here with you and help you out." Link said and sat down beside him.

"Alright, but you have to stay hidden, if he sees us he wont go in." Kafei said, still standing.

"Don't worry, he won't see us." Link replied.

At exactly seven at night Sakon showed up at his hideout and opened the door, and entered, with Kafei close on his heels. Since Link had been sitting down, it took him a moment longer to get up and follow through the stone doorway. The first room they entered was very plain, just simply stone with a couple crates on the left and hemp vases on the right. Link walked through the door that was right across from the entrance and the whole world seemed to have changed. The walls were now polished stone, with what could have been emerald flooring. There were two doors on the opposite wall, one on the right and the other on the left. Sitting in between them in a glass case was a mask, Kafei standing and staring at it in front of them.

"Ah!" Tatl said, "Look! There's a mask there!!!"

"It's the Sun's mask!" Kafei exclaimed, and moved towards it.

What he didn't notice was the blue switch in front of the case, and as he moved for the mask he stepped on it. Suddenly the wall behind the mask opened, and the mask began to move backwards on a belt.

"Now I've don't it!" Kafei cried and ran towards the right door, which had also opened when the switch had been pressed. Just as he reached it though the door slammed shut, and he whipped around to face Link and Tatl. "Step on that switch!!!"

"What??" Tatl asked, "Are you telling us what to do?!?"

"It's some thing where the door stays open only while the switch is pressed!"

Without Tatl saying anything, Link moved up and stepped on the switch, watching Kafei run through the door as it opened. In the room there were four blocks around something in the middle of the floor. Kafei moved around the room looking.

"There should be some device in this room that also opens the door! Ohhh! The mask!" He cried as he got a look down the tunnel the mask was moving on; at the end of it was a hole that the mask would fall through. "He's trying to pull it out of our reach and make his escape….We've got to hurry!" He called as he pushed one of the blocks, which opened the door to Link's Left.

"I don't like him…." Tatl commented. "But is there a choice? Should we help him? Not moving ahead in the face of danger when you know it's for the better is just like Tael….That's it….Let's go!" She said and flew off through the other door.

Link just watched her go and followed after her, not having said anything in awhile. In Link's room there was a Deku Bubba, which he took care of quickly, opening the next door for Kafei. Kafei ran into the next room and was faced with three different colours of switches. Moving up he stepped on a red one, causing the belt to move faster, panicking he stepped on a yellow one, which slowed the process down. Moving carefully he moved to step on the blue one which opened Link's door. Link moved through and took out two more Deku Bubba's, allowing Kafei to move on. The next room held many other blue blocks. Just hoping for the best Kafei moved them and managed to slow down the belt again and open Link's last door. The last trial for Link was a Walfos, which took a bit more time for him to get rid of then the other room's had. Once Kafei's last door was open he ran through, now at the end of the Mask's tunnel. Stepping on the blue switch he opened Link's door, who also ran through and stepped on the matching blue switch. Just in time they closed the trap door, and Kafei grabbed back the mask.

"I got the sun's mask back!" He cried, "There's still time! I must get back to town!" And with that Kafei was off running.

Link had a feeling that he should get back to Clock Town before Kafei made it there, so he pulled out his ocarina and played the Song of Soaring, arriving next to the clock in Clock Town.

"Link!"

Link turned around to see Ilarie coming towards him.

"Quickly, go see the Post Man in his office and then make your way back to the Inn. Go up to Anju's room where you will meet Kafei and Anju together, finally."

"Alright." Link said and turned around and ran up to the Post Office.

Walking inside he found the Post Man kneeling down on the ground in behind the counter. Link walked up slowly towards him so as not to startle him and gave a small hello, only to have the Post Man cry out.

"Ohhh…I want to flee! B-but, it's not written on the schedule. T-to me, the delivery schedule….It's the h-highest priority." Without even thinking about it, Link pulled out the high priority letter the Man from the Curiosity shop had given him and held it out to the Post Man. "Th-this is a priority mail seal! This is the highest of priorities. I shall deliver it!" The Post Man stated and then got up and started jogging off.

Since he didn't believe Kafei could have returned yet, Link trotted after the Post Man, following him to the Milk Bar. When they entered inside Link saw that the Barman was still there along with Madame Aroma. Link followed the Post Man down the stairs to stand next to Madame Aroma.

"I have a delivery for you, Postmistress!" The Post Man stated as he held out the letter to her.

"Oh my, it can't be!" She said startled. "You're still here?"

"To….to…to….tomorrow's delivery schedule is still scheduled!"

"What are you saying?!? Did you see the sky? It's terrible!"

"But, but…."

"Oh, my! Well!!! What shall we do?!? It's from Kafei!" Madame Aroma yelled once she had actually read the letter.

"It's priority mail."

"I'm so happy! To think something good would come in the end! Thank you. You flee now. That's an order!"

"Understood." The Post man said and turned around and left the bar, Link following behind him.

Once they were outside the Post Man turned to Link.

"I have decided to flee. It is an order from the Postmaster. I am now free! I can set my own schedule! I don't need this anymore, so here….I'll let you have it!" The Postman said and then handed over his hat to Link before skipping out of the gate.

"Alright, now that that's done, we have to get back to the Inn." Tatl said, and they turned around and walked into the Inn.

When they got upstairs Anju was sitting on her bed, still no sign of Kafei. Not knowing what else to do, Link stood by the opposite bed from her, watching the door for Kafei.

"Well, at least her wedding dress was very beautiful." Talt said, looking at the dress on the stand between the two beds, the Moon Mask sitting on the face of the stand to complete the whole outfit. They were starting to get a little uneasy with there only three hours left until dawn and dooms day.

Finally, with an hour and a half left until dawn, the three of them could hear the door downstairs open and slam shut, feet running up the stairs, and then Kafei walked through the bedroom door. Kafei walked slowly towards Anju, who had gotten up when she heard the door close and picked up the mask, holding it in her hands. She knelt down in front of him, looking at him for a moment before she spoke.

"I….I have met you before. What a familiar scent. Long, long ago…..yes. We were still young. We made a promise….Didn't we? The masks of the sun and the moon….We were to exchange them on the day of the Carnival of Time…"

"Anju…I'm sorry I was late."

"….Welcome home." After Anju had said that, Kafei ran up into her arms and they stayed on the floor hugging.

"…Tee-hee!" Tatl said, " They're lovers, but they look just like a mother and child."

"Let us exchange the promised masks." Kafei said after he released Anju. They placed the masks together and they combined to create a single mask. "We have exchanged our oaths and have become a couple. You are our witnesses. Please accept this mask." They said and gave Link the Couple's Mask.

"Please take refuge." Anju said, "We are fine here. We shall greet the morning…together."

Link looked at the mask in his hands for a moment before looking back up to the couple and giving them a quick nod. Knowing he had only an hour left, he walked out of the room and exited the door that lead out onto the balcony. Looking up at the sky he gazed at the moon which was so very close to hitting down on the Clock Tower. Fighting the urge to just get it done and over with, Link picked up his Ocarina and warped back to the First Day once again. Standing there to greet him was Ilarie, and as he stepped forward he just looked at her and spoke simply.

"I'm still not done am I?"


	19. Times Up!

**_A/N: Not my fault this chapter didnt get up on the last day of June. My internet wasnt working again, but this chapter was done, and then I worked yesterday. But its up now, and though it is very short, had I put everything together it would have been way too long. So its mega short.....and kinda boring, but it had to be put in or there wouldnt be a nice flow. So the next chapter will be long, since there's only two chapters left._**

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**6 am – Day One – Clock Tower**

"No Link, I am sorry but you are not yet done everything you must do, but now things will be much easier." Ilarie said as she looked down at Link. "If you are to look at your Bomber's notebook, you will notice there are still three people you have not completely helped yet."

Link did actually pull out his notebook and looked through the pages. "Oh yeah, Madame Aroma and the Post Man aren't completely filled in yet, and I'm also missing someone."

"That is correct." Ilarie replied. "To help Madame Aroma you must go through all the steps of helping Anju and Kafei until you get the priority mail letter. Then on the night of the third day, instead of giving the letter to the Post Man as you had done, you must give it to Madame Aroma yourself. As for finishing helping the Post Man, one evening you simply must go see him wearing the bunny hood and play his game. The third person is the mayor, go to his residence and take the left door instead of the right to enter into his office, there he will be in a meeting. To end his long meeting, talk to him wearing the Couples Mask. This is all you have left to do Link, at the end of Day Three you will be facing off against the Skull Kid and Majora's Mask."

"Alright, so what sort of equipment should I bring with me?" Link asked.

"You really only need to bring deku nuts and arrows, however….." Ilarie started and then trailed off.

"….However?" Tatl repeated her.

"Your sword, Link, is not the sharpest blade around. You could upgrade it to the best it could be. Though it is a long process." Ilarie finished.

"I'm sure I'm not going to like this, but what do I need to do to upgrade?" He asked, two fingers pinching the bridge of his nose and eyes closed as he waited for the bad news.

"You must return to Snowhead and defeat Goht once more, though there is a portal at the beginning of the temple that will take you right to his room so you will not have to complete the dungeon once more. Once spring has returned to the mountain, the little cabin you first see when you enter the valley will be open for business. It is a smiths place, for a price he will sharpen your sword. It will take all day and night to have it done. In the mean time the Goron Race will also be open. Break the boulder blocking the race track and enter the race. If you win, you will receive some gold dust. When you return on the second day to the smiths shop, give them the gold dust and they will make your sword the sharpest, it will never dull or ever break."

"That…sounds like a lot of work, but I probably should do it anyway, right?" Link asked, opening his eyes to look at her.

"Yes, it will aid you greatly in your final battles." Ilarie answered.

"Alright then, let's get going Tatl." Link said and moved through the town, collecting what he needed.

**9 am – Day One – Mountain Village**

Link and Tatl moved through the valley towards the smiths shop. The warm spring air brushed across them as they moved.

"Who knew defeating Goht would be that much easier." Tatl commented as they moved up the stairs of the cabin.

They knocked on the door before entering into a small room. A furnace was burning in the far left corner and odd and ends cluttered the room. Behind the counter right in front of them was a large being, its head covered by a steel mask. As Link moved forward the large creature looked up and yelled "Ugoh-oh! Ugoh ugo ugo?" As it swung its hammer, though not in a threatening way.

"Oh, a customer?" Link turned to look to his right, and there sat a small man dressed in purple-blue overalls. "Gabora, fetch our customer some coffee, quick-like." The man said and the big guy behind the counter suddenly handed Link a cup of a dark liquid. "Now then, let me take a look at your sword." Link handed him the sword. "Hmmm…. All right….To reforge your sword, it will cost you one hundred rupees. It'll be ready at sunrise. You'll have to let us hold onto your sword until then. Keep in mind that after you use your reforged sword one hundred times, it will lose its edge and it'll be back to its original sharpness….So, would you like your sword reforged for one hundred rupees?" And when Link said yes the man continued on. "Thanks for dropping in. Now then, I'm straight off to work! Come back tomorrow morning."

"Ugoh ugo ugo!" The big man said and pulled the untouched cup out of Link's hand and pushed him out the door.

"Well….that was a little odd." Tatl commented.

"No kidding." Link agreed. "Ah well, did you happen to look at the clock to tell what time it was?"

"It's about nine thirty, we still have time to go to the Goron races before we need to be back in Clock Town to talk to Anju….again."

"Alright then, let's see how fast we can get the races done." And off the two went.

**2 pm – Day One – Clock Town**

It turns out Link actually wasn't that good at racing, and he had to try more then once before he managed to get first place, all on his own, to win the gold dust that the Goron's used for a prize. They had managed to just get back in time to get their room from Anju, before a Goron, who happened to also be named Link, showed up for his room reservations.

"Now I know why we had reservations all the time." Link commented as they made their way up to the Mayors residence, having just remembered they were supposed to be helping him too.

When they walked into the residence they went for the left hand door instead of the right one, which they had taken so long ago to talk to Madame Aroma. When they entered into the room, they had to squeak through the door because the room was full of people. There were members of the council standing to the left of the room, members of the guard, including the captain himself, standing to the right, and in the middle of all the yelling was the Mayor, sitting behind his desk with his head in his hands. The mayor was a very small man, especially compared to his wife. He had purple hair that was standing up on both sides and a bald patch in the middle. No one seemed to have noticed Link enter, so he stayed by the door a moment to listen in on what was going on.

"Most of the townsfolk already have taken shelter without waiting for the mayors order. The only ones left are public servants and committee members, please order those who remain to evacuate!" The captain of the guard was saying.

"Ahh…hmmm…well…" The mayor responded.

"You cowards!" Roared the man who must have been the head of the committee. "Do you actually believe the moon will fall? The confused townsfolk simply caused a panic by believing this ridiculous, groundless theory. The soldiers couldn't prevent the panic, but outside the town walls is where the danger is! You want answers? The answer is that the carnival should not be cancelled! Isn't that right, Mr. Mayor?"

"Ahh…hmmm….well…" The mayor said again.

"Are you serious, Muthoh?!? It seems that giant chunk of rock above us hasn't caught your eye! At this time every year, we are overrun by tourist! So why is the town empty? Clearly, it's your job to ensure the carnivals operation, but that's if people are here for it! Don't drag the merchants and soldiers into this!

"Mmm….hmmmm…."

"If the soldiers wish to run, then run, Viscen! We councilmen will stick to tradition. This carnival will be a success! I've never heard of a defence unit abandoning its town! Madame Aroma would surely say the same thing, wouldn't she, Mayor Dotour?"

"…..Let's not bring my wife into this."

"I think we should end his misery now, Link." Tatl whispered in his year.

Link nodded his head and slipped on the Couple's Mask. He put it on before he stepped out into the room, and all three party's attention was on him in an instant.

"Ah!" They all exclaimed.

"The Couples Mask." The Mayor started, "What a nice reminder….So, a young couple has been married."

"I wonder…." The councilman said softly, "Did my wife flee?"

"What!?!" The captain yelled. "What did you just say?!?"

"Yes, yes, everyone." The mayor interrupted, "We are all worried for our families, why don't we end this meeting?"

"But, Mr. Moyor!" The guard complained.

"This will do. Whether you're stubborn and will stay and guard your family, or if you'd prefer to run far away and seek shelter…That is for people to decide on their own." The Mayor said and then dismissed everyone in the room, all but Link, whom he turned to once more when the room was empty. "Thank you for allowing me to put an end to all that pointless bickering. Adults are all so stubborn. It is shameful. Well, I may be an unreliable Mayor, but at least my family can depend on me. I want to protect my wife. You should go and seek shelter yourself."

Link said goodbye to the Mayor and then went on his way, marking in his book as he left that he had helped him.

**7 am – Day Two – Mountain Village**

Link had awoken at six sharp that morning and had delivered Anju's letter before he had left to head back to the smiths shop. As soon as he walked into the building he moved right to the counter and the small man, in the same place he had been sitting the day before, greeted him.

"I kept you waiting….But it's done! See?" He said as he handed Link back his now razored blade. "Now keep in mind that after you've used it one hundred times, the blade will lose its edge and will return to its original sharpness. Now here's a secret….If you bring me gold dust before this sword loses its edge, I'll be able to make it the strongest sword around. You got that? Gold Dust!" He said, and allowed his voice to trail off; doubting Link actually had the gold dust.

"Uhgo! Ugoh ugo ugo!" His friend said.

"Do you want me to make your sword stronger?" The man continued, to which Link pulled out the Gold Dust. "It's even top quality!" He cried when he saw it. "Why, even if I use it to reforge your sword, there'll still be some left….All right! Just for you, I'll do this for free. But don't tell anyone! Now then, I'm straight off to work! Come back tomorrow morning."

And Link was once again shoved out the front door.

**6 pm – Day Two – Post Office**

Link walked into the Post Office and looked around the front counter to see the Post Man was sitting on his bed in the back, jerking in a way that made Link think he was trying to run. Putting the Bunny Hood on and trying to walk slowly with it, he moved around the counter and made his way to stand in front of the Post Man.

"4,5,6…Whoa!" He shouted when he realized someone was standing in front of him. "Those ears!!! Oh, they're fake…..You started me! Don't disrupt my training! In my mind I am running for exactly ten seconds without looking at a clock. I was in the middle of mental training! You may make fun of me, but this is quiet difficult! Will you try?"

"Sure." Link said, and started counting as soon as the Post Man told him to go. The odd thing Link realized was that if he closed his eyes he could almost see the seconds passing by, as if he could see them right behind his eye lids, and when ten seconds was up, he said so.

"Your time was ten seconds." The Post Man said. "Huh?!? Ten seconds?!? That is amazing! You have reflexes suitable for a Post Man! I can't be like this! I'll have to train more! More!"

Link slowly backed away from the Post Man as he began running in his mind again and quietly left the Post Office.

**6 am – Final Day – Smiths Shop**

"I kept you waiting, but its done, see. There it is, we can't make a sword stronger than that. No matter how many times you use it, it will never lose its edge. Try it. Oh, I used up most of the gold dust, just a tiny bit was left, so I got rid of it for you." The smith said, who was followed by co-worker.

"Ugo-oh! Ugoh ugo ugo!" He said, to which Link took as a goodbye and left.

Link walked down towards the small pond that was in the valley and sat down, laying his new sword across his legs as he looked at it.

"Well," Tatl started, "It is a lot better looking then your old sword."

It was true, Link's new sword was about twice the length his old sword had been, and it was razor sharp, the gold dust was made in vines throughout the metal to keep its edge.

"Yep, that is true." Link replied to his fairy. "And in less then twenty four hours, I can test how strong this blade really is…..We should get going though, I feel like walking around Termina today, since it's probably the last time I'll be able to."

"Alright Link, no problem." Tatl said, and the two set off.

**Final Hours – Final Day – Clock Town**

Link ran through the gate which lead to the Canyon and ran for the Milk Bar. He had already pulled on his Mask, and when he reached the door he walked right in. He took the mask off as he made his way down the steps of the bar and put on the Kafei Mask as he ran towards Madame Aroma, who turned around to see who was running up her at such a time.

"Oh dear, you're the one searching for Kafei. How is it? Have you found him?" As she asked this Link pulled out the letter. "Oh dear….Priority mail? This!!! It's from Kafei! Correct? Correct? Wonderful! You really are an expert! Yes, yes. I'm sorry. My thanks. Yes, yes, it is your job, after all." Then she handed Link a bottle full of Chateau Romani milk, according to the label. "I'm sorry. At this point in time, I can give you only something like this. Actually I wanted to give this to you sooner….Really!"

As soon as Madame Aroma was finished speaking Link said his goodbyes and then turned and ran out the door. As he ran he pulled off the Kafei Mask, running through the archway into South Clock Town. Link ran up the little ramp right next to the Clock Tower and pulled himself up on the platform in front of the Clock Tower Door. Running up the steps, he burst through the top, once again standing face to face with the Skull Kid, who said nothing, but looked down at Link and Tatl.

"Sis!!!" The red fairy next to the Skull Kid cried out as he moved around the Skull Kid.

"….Tael!" Tatl called back.

"Swamp. Mountain. Ocean. Canyon. Hurry…The four who are there….Bring them here…."

"Don't speak out of line!" The skull kid yelled as he hit the red fairy. "Stupid fairy!!!"

"That's it!" Tatl yelled, vibrating and jingling with her anger. "I won't let things go the way you expect them to!"

"…..Well, whatever." The Skull Kid replied. "Even if they were to come now, they wouldn't be able to handle me…Hee, hee. Just look above you….If it's something that can be stopped, then just try to stop it!" He said, and then lifted his arms up, power surrounding him as he called to the moon, which started to move lower towards the town.

Link pulled out his Ocarina and played the Oath to Order, the song the first Giant they had freed from the Swamp had taught him. As the notes echoed around Termina, the giants began to awaken and call towards where they stood. The Skull Kid looked around as the voices continued, and then gripped his head before throwing it back and yelling. As the moon grew closer and closer, the air around it turned red from the heat, and a strong wind picked up, pulling any lose debris from around Clock Town towards it. Link knelt down low on top of the Clock Tower, looking around as the Giants appeared from the four areas and began to run towards the Town. When they all arrived, they began to bring up their arms to grip the moon. The moon weighed down on them, and Link could see them shake with the effort, but soon the wind began to die down, and the red air vanished, the moon having come to a stop.

"It….It stopped." Tatl said. "We did it! It stopped!"

"Sis!!!" Tael cried as he raced for his sister, and the two spun around each other, happy to finally see the other.

"Tael!!! Good….we made it in time. The giants' call worked on the Skull Kid. Hey, Skull Kid! Do you realize what you've been doing to everyone?!?" Tatl said, coming to a stop and yelling at the silent figure, now flat on the ground.

"Wait…Sis…Don't….Don't be so hard on the Skull Kid."

"Tael!" Tatl yelled, rounding on her brother. "Why are you protecting him! Aren't you mad at him for hitting you so much?"

"He was lonely…The Skull Kid."

"He was trying to destroy everything around him! That is not the same as a lonely child! We can't allow that!"

"The power of the mask made him do it. It was too much for the Skull Kid to handle."

"It's 'cause he doesn't know his place! On top of having a weak will and no strength of heart….he's a fool!"

"Certainly, he had far too many weaknesses to use my power." A voice said.

"Yeah!" Tatl agreed. "That's right! Admit your stupidity!....Huh?" She said, finally clueing in, and when the two fairies saw the limp body of the Skull Kid rise in the air, they grabbed onto each other again.

"A puppet that cannot be used is garbage." The mask said and shook off the Skull Kid, who landed back on the ground. "This puppet's role has just ended…."

"It can't be!" Tatl cried. "Then that moon?"

Just then the moon opened its mouth and sucked up the mask into it's depths. Once the mask had entered it, the moons eyes began to glow orange and red and it spoke.

"I….I shall consume….consume everything!"

"Waahhhhh!" Tatl cried going towards Link. "This isn't good! Let's go back! Let's go back! Hurry! The Song of Time! The Song of Time!!!" She then stopped dead in her tracks as she noticed Link staring at the moons mouth, which was still open and sucking in air. "Aw, no…You've got to be kidding. Don't tell me you're going up there……" She said, and then Link said he was going to go. "I won't do it! You go by yourself! I'm staying here with Tael."

"I'll go!!!" The other fairy said.

"What?! What are you saying, Tael? Is something wrong with you?"

"I don't always want to be running away! If only I had been stronger, the skull kid wouldn't have…." He trailed off, and both fairies looked at each other for a moment before Tatl broke the silence.

"I understand. I'll go! After all this time, Tael, you've gotten really stubborn….just like someone else I know…" She said and looked at Link. "You know, you guys are really stupid…."

Link smiled at her before he turned towards the moon. Tatl flew under his hat so they wouldn't be separated, and Link ran under the moons mouth and was sucked up into complete darkness.


	20. The Moon

**_A/N: It's up before the last day of the month because I'm working all week and I'm only off because it was thundering today. So here's the new chapter, the next one will be up at the end of August. The next chapter is the last chapter, but there's also an epilogue with a sneak peak of my next Zelda story, which is based off of Twilight Princess but more indepth then I have been writing and more of my own ideas.....hopefully, there's only so much I can do when basing my work of games......_**

* * *

When Link opened his eyes he closed them quickly and kept them shut for a moment before opening them again. He blinked as he looked around, wondering if getting sucked up by the moon had actually killed him and he was in heaven.

"No, Link, you are very much alive."

Link looked to his right to see that Ilarie was standing next to him, her arms together in front of her, hands clasped together in her sleeves. Since he was just told that he hadn't died, Link looked around the area again.

In front of him was rolling green and yellow tinted grass, as far as he could see. The grass ran up a slop, which held a large, beautiful and very healthy tree in the center of it. Behind him clouds closed off his view of where he thought he would have come from. All around him he could hear birds chirping, and see beautiful butterflies floating around. As Ilarie walked in front of him, her movements seemed to streak, as if this were all a dream.

"This place is called the playfield." Ilarie told him, "And by the tree there will be five children. Four of them will be running around the tree on the hill, they will each be wearing a mask, one to represent each evil spirit you defeated in the four temples. Now sitting under the tree, his knees pulled up to his chest, will be a child wearing the Majora's Mask. Do not talk to him yet. It would be wise to talk to each of the other four children, and play with them first, and give them what they ask. You will understand later why I say this. And you should drink the milk that the Mayor's wife gave you."

Link looked up at Ilarie and just nodded his head. Without another word he drank the milk and began walking towards the tree. He felt as if he were walking through water, everything seemed so surreal and dreamlike to him as he watched the children play around the tree, just as he had been told. He walked up to the nearest one to him, who was wearing the mask of Goht. When the child saw that Link was coming to talk to him, he stopped and spoke as soon as Link was close enough to hear his quiet voice.

"….Ahhh….Nice weather…isn't it? Masks…You have…a lot. You, too…will you be…a mask salesman?" When Link said no, the kid continued. "Then I'll play with you. So….The masks…..Give me some…." Link handed over the All-Night Mask, and the kid said, "More." So Link handed over the Blast Mask also. "Thanks….You….You're a nice person…Aren't you? Hide-and-seek….let's play. All right….I'll….hide…." There was a flash of light and then Link was standing in another room.

There was a blue portal on the other side of the room he was in, but Link had three walls around him so he couldn't see anything else. Moving forwards he turned into Darmi, and when he looked to his right he stopped dead. The room was a mass of ramps and jumps, with no sides and nothing but a deep chasm to greet anyone who fell off. As he walked to the edge of the rock he was on, he looked around, not seeing where any of it could lead him, except for a small ledge covered in ice off to the right, though it was very hard for him to see it.

"Madainn mhath, Link!" Called a very familiar voice.

Link looked around, and a girl walked from the blue portal, smiling broadly at Link as she waved to him.

"Shiana!" Link called and ran up to her, grabbing her and hugging her tightly, though still mindful of his strength as a Goron.

After a moment Link stepped back to look at his friend and he had to smile. For once she wasn't wearing the red cloak she had worn when they first met. She was still dressed in her pants and strapless top, her wings folded neatly behind her back, her tail curled around her leg.

"What are you doing here?" Link asked her as he made a gesture to their odd surroundings.

"I here to help." She said and turned towards the room. "You think you could go through this on your own?" She asked with a smile. "Tigh! Sooner we get through, sooner mask is gone." And with that she opened her wings and jumped into the air. "You follow me now, ok?"

"Ok." Link said and looked at the ramp in front of him.

Curling up into a ball, Link began to roll down the ramp of dirt until he picked up so much speed his spikes came out to give him extra grip. He hit the jump at the end of the ramp and flew over the large gap in the floor, landing on the other side and still going. After a moment he hit into something hard and spun off to the left, hitting another jump, paused in the air, and then landed on another ramp. Again he hit something hard which spun him to the right this time. He hit a jump; hit a platform, jump, platform, jump, platform, jump, platform, something hard sending him to the right again, jump, platform, and then Shiana yelled at him.

"STOP!"

Link got out of his roll as quickly as he could, slightly unsteady on his feet because of all the airborne jumps he had made and hitting off so many things while doing it.

"Good, almost out now." Shiana said as she landed next to him.

Shiana grabbed his hand and pulled him over a wooden bridge that lead to a large platform that Link could now see was in the middle of all the ramps. As she had brought him to the top she turned him to the left and pointed across the way.

"Way out through door." She said with a smile before jumping back into the air.

Link curled into his ball again and with the danger in mind, sped across another narrow wooden bridge, hit the jump, and came out of his ball in mid air to land on the icy platform on his feet so he wouldn't fall off. As he turned around, away from the door, Shiana landed in front of him once more.

"Are you coming with me?" Link asked, though he was doubtful.

"No, I here to help through small dungeon. Now is up to you, Link. Goodbye, and luck to you." She said and walked up to him and gave him a quick peck on the cheek before stepping back.

Link, still as the Goron smiled to her before he turned around and walked through the door. As the door closed behind him he turned back into a kid, and gave the room he had entered into a quick look. It had wooden walls, halfway the wood turned into paint, which showed a blue sky and white fluffy clouds. The floor was also made of wood, though there was a large green carpet with vine like patterns across it taking up most of the floor. At each corner of the carpet were square stones with odd faces on them. Link walked up to the child with Goht's mask on, who was standing in the center of the carpet.

"….You found me…." The kid started, "Hey…I want…more masks…" So Link handed over his Don Gero's and the Mask of Scents. "Heh, heh…..Thanks….You're nice. Umm…Can I ask…..a question? You….What makes you…..happy? I wonder….What makes you happy….Does it make….others happy, too?' And when Link opened his mouth to try and answer the kid, he found himself back in the field where he had first started.

"Well, this is odd." Tatl commented, and Link had to agree.

When they made it back up to the large tree, they ran into a kid wearing the Odolwa mask, and Link went up to speak to him.

"….Ahhh….Nice weather…isn't it? Masks…You have…a lot. You, too…will you be…a mask salesman?" Link said no so the kid continued. "Then I'll play with you. So….The masks…..Give me some…." Link handed over the Mask of Truth. "Thanks….You….You're a nice person…Aren't you? Hide-and-seek….let's play. All right….I'll….hide…." There was a flash of light and then Link was standing in a new room.

There was the same blue portal across from him as before, but when Link walked out towards the rest of the room he turned into the Deku Scrub. Looking over the room Link gave a sigh, wondering if there was going to be any rooms that actually had a solid floor. This room seemed to be worse then the Goron one for having wide open bottomless areas. There were only six small platforms, three to each side of the room, spaced very far apart, each with a deku flower on it. In front of the platform he was on, there was a single spinning twin platforms with deku flowers on each wooden piece. Beyond that was another set of spinning twin platforms, though those had a separate piece of wooden spikes that brushed the platforms at regular intervals. To the very far left of the room, in front of one of the platforms, were three large trees, and Link assumed that would be the way out, since it would be that much harder to get to.

Giving another sigh Link moved towards the room, but he didn't get far before something slammed into him, sending him flying to the ground with the weight of it on top of his back.

"Link!" Someone called and squeezed him.

Link looked over his shoulder as best as he could and saw blue blossoms and green. It took him a moment to catch on since it had been so long, and hard to see at his angle.

"Mikado!" Link said happily, and his dear friend got up off of him and helped pull him to his feet.

"I was so worried I wouldn't be here to help you, but I am!" She said happily as she grabbed his hand and began to pull him towards the edge of the platform, and the deku flower that was there.

"I'm so glad I got to see you one more time, I thought you would have forgotten me when I went back in time without you." Link said.

"Please don't be sad, but I did forget about you. I don't know how many times you had to go back in time since I lived through the days without knowing, but just as it struck midnight everything came back to me. It's like all the work you did all over Termina came together in the final hours." She finished as they came to a stop at the deku flower. "But I'm here! And I can help you. I'm sure you've already figured it out, but we need to get around those trees at the other end of this place for you to be able to leave."

Link looked at her and nodded his head, and with a smile, she dove into the flower that was in front of them. Shooting from the flower she made her way over to the first spinning platforms and landed on one. As it spun around she waited and watched as Link dove into the first flower, shot out, and landed on the opposite flower from her. The two dove into the two new flowers and shot out; making their way to the middle platforms against the walls Link on the left and Mikado on the right.

"We have to take turns on this one." Mikado yelled over to Link. "I'll go first."

Watching the next twin platforms carefully, since they had the spikes brushing over them, Mikado dove into the flower on her side, shooting out and dropping down onto the yellow flower on the platform. She quickly dove into it as the spikes swept over her and then shot out again, making her way carefully around the trees and landing on the last platform. Now it was Link's turn, and he took a lot longer watching the platforms since he hadn't been a Deku Scrub in awhile in this type of environment. He made it safely in the yellow flower though, and soon joined Mikado on the other side.

"Let me guess," Link started, looking at her. "You're staying here."

"That's right, I'm sorry Link, but I only came to help you through here, I wouldn't be any good anywhere's else." She said, and then walked up to him, giving him another big hug.

Link hugged her back tightly, before he finally let go. He gave her another nod and then turned and walked through the door behind him. The room was the exact same as the other kids, exact the carpet was red. The conversation with the kid was very much the same as before also.

"….You found me….Hey…I want…more masks…" Link gave him his Stone Mask. "Heh, heh…..Thanks….You're nice. Umm…Can I ask…..a question? You're friends…What kind of….people are they? I wonder….Do those people….think of you…as a friend?"

Then Link was back at the beginning again. He thought about what both kids had asked him and they were actually bothering him. He was starting to doubt a lot of what he was doing or what he had done. Maybe he should stop looking for his friend after he was done with Major's Mask; maybe she was happier on her own, in her own home. Maybe he would just make her hate him if he did find her. Shaking his head he pushed the thoughts from his mind and moved on to find the kid wearing the TwinMold mask and he went over the same conversation again, this time giving him his Kamaro, Gibdo, Garo's and Captain hat.

The next room they entered into thankfully had a solid floor. It was just a plan square room, and when Link walked further into it he stayed as he was. This fact didn't surprise him since all the others were based off other beings so he turned into them, but when he had gone to the Canyon he had completed the dungeon almost completely human. By now knowing he would have help along the way, Link walked over to stand in front of the blue portal that was to his right….and waited. For awhile nothing happened, and then Link felt a sharp blade press against his neck.

"You're too careless Link, just because you don't see a danger in the room, doesn't mean that it is not here." Yawin said and then backed off, allowing Link to turn around and look at her stunned.

"A lesson well learned." Link said, as he watched her pull her blade back up into her purple cloak that still completely covered her.

"Hopefully a lesson not learned too late." Yawin said. "Let us begin."

The trio ended up going through six rooms, fighting Dinofols, a Garo Master and an Iron Knuckle. When they had reached the final door Yawin slide her hands together inside her cloak and just nodded to Link. He knew there would be no hugging goodbye with her, but he still regretted it when he just walked through the door and had simply nodded back to her. This Child's room had an orange carpet, and Link began to worry about what question this one would ask.

"….You found me….Hey…I want…more masks…" Link gave him his Giants, Kafei, Circus Leader and Romani's Mask. "Heh, heh…..Thanks….You're nice. Umm…Can I ask…..a question? Your true face…..What kind of…..face is it? I wonder….The face under the mask….Is that….your true face?"

"What is up with these questions?" Tatl asked when they were back in the field once more.

"I don't know, but you know, they do make you think." Link said a little distracted as they moved on.

They came up to the last kid that was running around the tree, the one wearing the Gyorg mask. Link gave him his Great Fairy, Couples and PostMans Hat to get into his dungeon.

There seemed to be nothing to the next dungeon as Link stepped forward and turned into Mikau. There was just the ground he stood on with the blue portal across from him, and then a pond to his right with a metal pipe at the bottom leading outwards. When Link looked back at the portal, Tyra was just stepping from it.

"Hello Mikau." She said smiling as she stepped forward and also gave him a hug. "It's good to see you; it's not the same at the hall without you." She commented as she stepped back looking at him. "But then again, it's not really you that everyone is missing, though you did act a lot like Mikau did when he wasn't on the stage."

"I'm really sorry Tyra." Link said as he looked at her. "I forgot that when I leave, Mikau will really be gone, completely."

"It's alright, you have to go your own way, don't blame yourself. Mikau just did what he wanted to, though it didn't turn out the way he had planed in the end. He will be greatly missed, but the other Zora's need to know what has happened to him eventually….But we should get going."

Link gave a nod of his head and Tyra turned towards the water and dove in, turning to wait until Link was beside her. Once they were both in the water, Tyra swam towards the pipeline and through it. When Link got there he felt a huge pull at him, and he ended up swimming twice as fast as he normally would. He carefully followed Tyra as she swam through a left pipe, passed another, and then swam through a right pipe, going straight through another intersection of pipes and speeding out of Link's sight. Luckily for Link he came out of the right pipe and shot towards the surface, turning back into his human self as he landed on the ground on the blue carpet of the kid. Looking around, he gazed back into the water to see Tyra still standing at the bottom, and she simply gave him a small wave with sad eyes. Link waved back and then turned back to the kid in front of him.

"….You found me….Hey…I want…more masks…" Link handed over his last three masks, the Keaton, Bremen and Bunny Hood. "Heh, heh…..Thanks….You're nice. Umm…Can I ask…..a question? The right thing….What is it? I wonder….If you do the right thing….Does it really make….everybody….happy?"

With that last question Link was fully in doubt of himself as he made his way through the field one last time, making his way up towards the tree and the little kid who was sitting under it all alone. He really had seconds thoughts on what he was trying to do after all this was done, and he really didn't think continuing on his quest was the best choice anymore. He didn't want to give up on finding his friend, but he was sure she would be happier without him. With a heavy heart Link finally reached the last kid wearing Majora's Mask, who looked up at him and then around the field before he spoke.

"…..Everyone has gone away, haven't they? Will you play….with me?" And Link nodded that he would. "You don't have any masks left, do you? Well, let's do something else. Let's play good guys against bad guys…Yes. Let's play that." The Child then handed Link another mask.

"That's the Fierce Deity's Mask," Tatl whispered in his ear as Link accepted the mask. "It's supposed to be filled with evil magic, almost as bad as Majora's Mask."

"Are you ready?" The child asked. "You're the bad guy. And when you're bad, you just run. That's fine, right? Well….shall we play?" The child finished and then everything went black.

When Link opened his eyes again he was standing in a large room. The floor was a dull grey, the walls amazing rainbow colours. Grey pillars dotted around at regular intervals against the walls to help hold up the large grey dome ceiling. Right across from where Link stood was Majora's Mask, hanging from the center of a wall, and as Link stood there, the four masks of the bosses appeared around him in a circle and then moved to four other walls; two on each side of Majora's Mask. When the four masks were in place the eyes of Majora's mask began to glow and it spoke.

"_Let's play_." It said.

Link waited a moment and when nothing happened he put on the new mask he received. As soon as he put it to his face he knew what Tatl meant by the mask being evil. Fire seemed to flow through is veins, his muscles feeling as if someone was stretching them out and sticking needles in them. He cried out in pain and as he did so his voice also changed. Panting when it was done, he turned his eyes to the wall to his right and could see his reflection in it. He now looked like an adult again, but not how he looked like in Hyrule.

His eyes were just as solid white as his hair, not even the faintest hint of pupils in them. Purple paint marked his forehead almost in the shape of a bat with its wing upwards and red paint lined with purple surrounded his eyes. He wore a white tunic with a black under shirt and black leggings. His boots were simple brown just as he used to wear, as were the gauntlets around his arms. He wore body armour however, something he was not used to, and he held a sword in his hand, the likes which he had never seen before. He lifted the sword up in front of him, taking two hands to manage it. The blade curved upward as long as he was tall and then twisted around back down itself. As he held it he could feel the power surging through it, and blue lights began to form around it.

"_Such a bold warrior now_." The masks voice said again, seeming to come from everywhere but no where. "_And how much is that going to help you? You may look strong on the outside, but in the inside you are weak and pathetic_."

Link allowed the sword in his hands to drop down in front of him and then off to the side as he held it in only one hand. He gave his head a little shake to try and get the voice out of his head, he knew it was wrong, he had gone through so much in his young life, and he was not pathetic.

"_I know what you are thinking_," The voice continued. "_You've been through so much, but how many people were hurt because you couldn't move fast enough. How many people died in Hyrule because you could not handle the power of the Master Sword, you were just a small child, you couldn't handle anything on your own_."

Link's chest tightened as he was reminded of that, of how Ganondorf had taken over the land because he had been sealed away for seven years because he was not strong enough to handle the power of being the Hero of Time. He had still done it though, he had gone through all those dungeons and had defeated Ganondorf, he had been older, but he didn't have the knowledge or experience of being that age to help him through everything, he had done it alone.

"_Alone?....Strange, I heard you had help through all those dungeons you went through as an adult. Another little girl who had no mind for the world she was thrown into. She did everything, she solved all the problems in the dungeons, she was the one who knew how to defeat Ganondorf, without her you would have failed. And now where is she? She was so tired of your blundering around blind in the dark because of your weakness that she left. She left you all alone, she never wants to see you again, otherwise she would be here with you, and instead you are here with your fairy, someone else who is doing this for another person. No one loves you, you are a rogue, you are not meant to find love or happiness, you are all alone_."

"No!" Link cried and fell to his knees, bending over as if he could block out the voice by making himself as small as possible. The mask couldn't be right…..but then again, he was alone in this after all, wasn't he?

"_That's right, suffer from my words, you know they are all true…..YOU ARE ALL ALONE, FOREVER_!"

"You're wrong!" A chorus of female voices said behind Link.

Link rose up to a kneeling position and looked behind him. Behind the walls, as if they were windows, stood five girls. A Deku Scrub, a Keaton, a winged girl, a Zora, and a cloaked girl. Together they looked at Link and spoke in unison.

"You have never been alone Link, you have your friends back home in Hyrule who love you dearly. Through your trials to defeat Ganondorf you had a dear friend who helped you all along the way because she cared for you and the land of Hyrule. And I, I have helped you through all the trials here, because I still care for you."

Link passed his eyes over the five once, twice, and again before the key word came out at him.

"….I?...." He asked, looking at the five of them.

"You and I have been through much Link, you should know who I am…..think Link, who am I?" They said again.

"_LIES_!" The mask screamed, its eyes beginning to glow red. "_Do not listen to these foolish girls; they only try to trick you into thinking that they cared about you at all through this whole time. Think about it, they only helped you to serve their own ends_."

"Not they, Link." The girls said, ignoring the mask. "I."

"Mikado, Ilarie, Shiana, Tyra, Yawin…..I don't understand, what do you mean by 'I'." Link asked, and then a dangerous thought entered into his head. He stared at them again for a moment longer and then spoke their names again, adding emphasis to the letter of each of their first names. "**M**ikado, **I**larie, **S**hiana, **T**yra and **Y**awin……Misty." He finally breathed.

The five girls smiled at him and then there was a blinding light behind them. The wall which stood between Link and them seemed to open as if being ripped apart from its center. Link shielded his eyes with his hand, and through the light Link could see someone step out from the wall. A single girl, the one person he had been looking for before he got into this mess, the one person who had been helping him through it the whole time.


	21. Final

_**A/N:**Sorry this chapter is up so late, it's been done for awhile but I never had a chance to proof read it and sadly, we had to put our dog down last monday after he went through some hard times. My mom took it really hard so I spent more time with her between my packing. The epilogue and sneak peak will be posted later this week, as I have yet to finish packing or even finish my laundry, it is now almost 10, we leave at 4, so I have to get a move on....._

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Link stood in a dead silent wonder as he watched the girl step from the wall as if sliding through water. The five girls who had helped him all through his quest turned out to be the one he had been searching for all this time.

"Misty." He breathed again as she stepped fully in front of him.

Much time had passed for her also. Though he knew it was her, she had changed so much. She hadn't grown any taller, still at her five foot three height, though once where she had been simply slender, now more muscle toned her body, giving her the appearance of being more of an adult. She wore the odd rough pant material that was light blue in colour, almost white in places, with the knees worn out from much use. She wore a simple black long sleeved shirt; the sleeves bunched some at the wrist for being too long, and a v-neck cut, showing the silver chain holding the sapphire Link had given her. Her once long hair was now cropped short, cut diagonally from the end of her nose to halfway down her neck, all the ends cut jagged. She had seven, small golden hoops in her ears, two per lob and one on the top of her left ear and two on the top of the right. Her face was more mature now, but her eyes, her eyes hadn't changed as they gazed at him.

"You have never been alone Link." She said, and then Navi flew past her shoulder, stopping dead in front of Link.

"Who is that?" She asked, indicating the other fairy.

"My name is Tatl, I've been helping this idiot through everything to help my brother, what's it to you?" Tatl countered the demand.

"Well she's pleasant." Navi whispered.

"Don't get me started." Link said, never taking his eyes from Misty.

Before anything else could be said, a screech came from behind them. Turning around Link could see Majora's eyes had begun to glow as it detached itself from the wall, around them the other masks did the same.

"Enough of this!" The mask said, "You will all parish here!" Large red tentacles fell from its back as it began to slowly move around the room.

"Link, your sword has magic coursing through it, swing it to unleash it!" Misty yelled to him.

Link looked down at the sword doubtfully but did as he was told. As he swung it, blue lights swirled around it and came together at the tip, flying towards the mask like a disc. The mask cried out in pain as the blue lights struck it, expanding over its body to engulf it. Link looked down at his blade in a new light and smiled, understanding now why going through all the other dungeons and collecting all the masks was worth the trouble.

Link looked back up just in time to roll out of the way of a ball of fire that had been aimed for his head. When he stood back up again an arrow was already striking the mask who had shot at him.

"You take care of ugly." Misty said, down on one knee with bow in hand, a full quiver at her waist. "I'll take care of the others."

Not even going to ask where she had gained the weapon, Link turned back to face Majora's Mask. Since he knew the power of his sword now, he stood well back from the masks and swung his sword towards Majora. Blue lights and arrows filled the other side of the room, and one by one the other masks' burst into blue flames and vanished.

Suddenly Majora's Mask gave a piercing shriek and Link lowered his sword to rest the tip on the ground. All of them watched as the mask rolled around in the air, a red flame engulfing it as it moved to stay in the center of the room. The tentacles were pulled together and skinny legs and arms were formed. As the feet touched down on the ground, a single eye popped up from the top of the mask. Once it was done changing, the thing danced from foot to foot making a 'doo-took-took' sound before it turned and began running around the room.

Link took a step back as he tried to follow the movement of the new creation, but it was all a blur to him.

"This is Majora's Incarnation." Misty said, her eyes moving as if she were having better luck following the thing.

Link took a couple steps away to the side and further into the room from her to try and draw the thing towards him and away from her. He looked back at Misty to check the distance and when he looked back he could no longer see the Incarnation. He soon found himself flying forward with a sharp pain in his back. As he got to his feet he heard a sharp 'ooh' behind him. Turning around he saw the Incarnation dancing a moment as it tried to pull an arrow from its behind.

The momentary pause was all that Link needed. Getting his feet planted under him, he held the sword in both hands and swung like mad. Blue sphere after blue sphere soared towards the Incarnation, each one rendering it immobile. Finally the Incarnation gave out another ear piercing screech.

Blue light ran along its body, its hands up by its eye as the sound of a widely beating heart filled the room. The legs and arms of the Incarnation began to pulse and grow until they were massive muscles. The heart beat stopped and a head rose from where the eye had been, it was now sitting in the middle of the forehead above eyeless sockets. Yellow spikes rose from its head; hands reaching behind it to pull out two long whips.

"Majora's Wrath." Misty said as if it were a matter of fact.

"Oh." Link replied in an equally dull voice and then had to dive out of the way as one of the whips came at him.

He heard a cry behind him and knew Misty hadn't been as lucky at avoiding. Link turned around and saw Misty on the ground, hands skidding along the ground as she tried to fight against the whip around her ankle, pulling her towards Majora's Wrath.

Link turned around and swung the sword down as hard as he could. It crashed on the ground and a large bolt of the blue light shot across the ground, ripping through the whip. Wrath swung the whip back, and as it did so the whip returned to its proper length.

Misty kicked off the piece of the whip that was left on her in disgust before she stood back up. She took one look at Majora's Wrath, who was winding up to strike again, before she turned to Link and yelled at him.

"What are you waiting for?!?"

Link gave himself a shake to snap himself back into action. Picking up his sword he began swinging again and again, as fast as he could towards the monster. The blue spheres immobilized it as it had the others and it gave out an angry roar as it was lifted into the air.

The room began to shake wildly, Misty and the two fairies moving over to stand by Link. As they watched Majora's Wrath begin to disintegrate and a bright light blinded them all.

Outside, the townspeople watched the Giants still holding the moon from crushing Clock Town, not knowing what they were waiting for or what was going on. Suddenly the moon began to break apart into rainbow colours and when nothing was left, it shot across the sky, signalling to the cheering watchers the end of the danger.

**Dawn of a New Day**

In a far distant place Link could hear a horse whinny, and as the sound grew closer he realized it was Epona, and he opened his eyes.

"Aah! He's awake!" Tatl said, floating above him with her brother.

Link slowly sat up, rubbing his head as Epona nuzzled his cheek. He realized he was a kid again and looked around, spotting the Skull Kid looking up at the giants a few feet away.

"You guys….You hadn't forgotten about me?" The imp asked, and then looked down shaking some as the giant answered him. "You still thought of me as a friend?" At his words the fairies flew over to him and the giants began singing their song, reminding the people they were still there as they returned to their resting places. "Did you….Did you save me?" He asked as he turned around to look at Link, who had gotten to his feet. "I thought they didn't want to be friends with me…." The imp said looking at Tael. "….But….They hadn't forgotten about me….Friends are a nice thing to have….Heh, heh." He then looked back at Link. "Could you be my friend, too?" He asked and then walked over and sniffed Link. "Eh-hee-hee…You have the same smell as the fairy kid who taught me that song in the woods…I know. I know! Let's do something!"

"Oh…so the evil has left the mask after all…" A voice said, and everyone turned to look at the Happy Mask Salesman. "Well, now….I finally have it back. Since I am in the midst of my travels…I must bid you farewell." He said and began to walk away before turning to look back. "Shouldn't you be returning home as well? Whenever there is a meeting, a parting is sure to follow. However, that parting need not last forever or merely for a short time….That is up to you. With that, please excuse me." The man said bowing before he left, though he only took a couple steps before turning back to them once more. "….But, my, you sure have managed to make quite a number of people happy. The masks you have are filled with happiness. This is truly a good happiness." The man finished and then finally left.

"Well, both of us have gotten what we were after…." Tatl said looking at Link. "So this is where you and I part ways isn't it? You know…..it was kind of fun. Well….it's almost time for the carnival to begin….So, why don't you just leave and go about your business? The rest of us have a carnival to go to."

Link nodded his head and said his goodbyes as he mounted Epona and left the trio.

"Link!" Tatl called as she flew forward a bit and began shaking when Link kept riding. "…..Thank you." She whispered as her brother flew over to hug his crying sister.

Link rode towards the Southern Swamp at a brisk pace, looking all around him. Misty had not been there when he had awoken, but he did not believe she had left again, at least not without having said goodbye. As he drew closer to the swamp she suddenly stepped out from behind the large tree that stood at the entrance of the path. He slowed Epona and stopped in front of her, dismounting after a time. Standing and looking up at her Link sighed and lowered his head as he spoke.

"You're not staying, are you?"

"No, Link." Misty replied as she knelt down in front of him, using a hand to lift his chine so that he was looking at her. "As I said, I come from a very different world then this. They are only connected by the will of the Goddesses. You cannot find me on your own, please don't waste your life away trying."

"But if I ever did find you," Link countered, "It would be worth the wait and the time."

"And if that would ever happen, I would still be many years older then you, which isn't very welcomed in my society."

To that Link could make no reply. He could only simply stare at her and know she was ok. She looked very healthy and, other then the sadness he also felt, happy. As they stared at one another, Link realized that Misty was beginning to fade away again.

"Please don't leave me!" Link said and flung his arms around her, crying like the young youth that he was.

"I have to go Link, I'm sorry." She said, her voice beginning to grow faint as she held him.

"Please don't ever forget about me." Link said, keeping his arms around her though backing up to see her one last time.

"I wont Link, I promise. As I told you before, I will always love you, always." She said and leaned forward to kiss him on the forehead.

Link closed his eyes and cried all the harder when his arms held air and the pressure of her lips were gone. He may have been in the body of a child, but he had the memories and knowledge of the adult, along with the pain in his heart.

"Link?" A soft voice said.

Link looked up to see Navi floating close beside him.

"Come one Link, lets go home." She said, "I know the way back to our forests, and I promise I'll stay with you. I won't ever leave."

Link nodded his head silently and, without even bothering to dry his eyes, mounted Epona. They took one last look at the land around them before they turned their backs and began the long journey back to Hyrule.

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******THERES STILL AN EPILOGUE!!!******


	22. Epilogue

**_A/N:_ And thus ends the story. Sorry if anyone wanted a different ending, I just went with what I thought would make more sense in later stories. I hope you all enjoyed the fanfic and I hope you'll read the next one when it comes out. Thank you to all my readers and those who left reviews, those are the little kicks that kept me going.**

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Hyrule Five Years Later

Link stood up from his garden and lifted his arms to stretch out his back. Scratching his sides he looked around his farm with a pleased look. Four years ago the King had given Link the land that surrounded the large pond by the entrance of Zora's River so that he would be close to hand to the main living areas of the people should something ever happen again. With the help of everyone he had built what was now his home.

His large, two story house stood next to the cliff closest to the forest, next to the pond. His barn stood to the right of it, reaching towards the forest as well. Next to the pond on the river side was a house for the cocco's that were, at the moment, pecking around the yard. A large fence stood wide around the whole establishment so that his three horses, including Epona, and four cows could move about as they pleased without going too far.

Link bent back to his garden, fenced off from the animals in between the house and the barn. He just started pulling weeds again when he heard his two sheep bleating in happiness, and soon after he heard Epona whinny.

Standing up he looked over to where the three animals had gathered by the fence and saw Malon riding up. Smiling he rubbed his hands on the scarf he kept in his back pocket, and made his way over to stand with the animals.

"You're out kind of late." Link called to her as he leaned on the fence.

"I'm only here for a moment." Malon said pulling up in front of him. "I just happened to notice you didn't stop for dinner again so I brought you something to eat. You should take better care of yourself." She scolded as she handed over a basket.

"Yes, but if I took better care of myself then I wouldn't get to see you every evening." Link only half teased as he took the basket.

Malon flushed but smiled at him as she shook her head.

"Papa wants you to come to the ranch tomorrow night for the celebrations."

"I wouldn't miss it for the world." Link said, and stepped up on the fence to lean over and give Malon a quick kiss.

She giggled and waved goodbye as she turned her horse and rode back to the ranch. As she rode away Link reached up to his neck and toyed with the butterfly pendant that always hung there.

"She would have wanted you to move on." Navi said flying up next to him.

"I know, but no matter what happens, I'll never love another like her. I always feel her in my heart."

Just as he finished speaking a freezing wind blew past him and it seemed to go right through his heart. Clutching his chest he fell to the ground, but the wind left quickly and he lay there panting, a cold spot in his heart.

"Link! What's wrong?!" Navi asked, already next to him.

"I think something bad has happened." He answered as he raised his eyes to look around. "I'm not sure what it is, but I think I'll put the animals in the barn tonight." He said as he stood up to sit by the barn to eat.  
The chill in his heart never went away, the place where he had once felt the love he had for Misty, knowing she also loved him back, the spot forever remained cold as ice, all the way up to the day he died.

**Modern Day**

The twenty-four year olds hand flew across the page, scribbling down notes after notes. She cursed softly as the plane hit turbulence and the pen made a long ink line through her work.

"Man I hate bumpy rides." One of her friends commented.

"That's not what you said last night, Tiff." The other friend commented.

"Oh grow up Michael." Tiffany shot back.

"Why did I agree to sit between you two? You're both going to drive me insane." The girl said, flipping her book closed but with her finger marking the page.

"You're the one who brought us Misty." Michael grinned.

Misty couldn't deny that. The three of them were sitting in a medium sized plane flying halfway around the world to a city where they would meet their private plane that would bring them to their final destination.

"Would you recognize the ruins, if they really are from Hyrule?" Tiffany asked leaning over her seat to include Michael in the conversation without others overhearing them.

"Yes." Misty answered without hesitation. "I would know if they're from Hyrule or Termina."

About a year ago a whole area of old ruins had been found but no archaeologists could identify them. Working her way through education for the field, Misty had convinced one of her professors to allow her to go see them, claiming she could identify them having studied many ancient cultures everyone else had forgotten. He had allowed her to go in order to get her name out in the field and for extra credit.

"Even if they're not from either place, this should be the best summer vacation anyway." Michael said, and whooped as the plane took another great jerk. "Not so bad." He commented to calm Tiffany's nerves, but then the plane began to shake violently and drop.

Passengers began to scream as they could see nothing but blackness outside the windows and lighting. Hale could be heard hitting the plane even over all the noise. Misty gripped the arms of her chair, barley able to breathe. Nothing made sense; the sky had been clear except for a few large white clouds only moments before. The pressure in their cabin began to drop, people gasped for air, but the air bags did not descend. The plane gave one more feeble lurch upwards before it plunged completely down in a nose dive. People were screaming and crying all around them, and from outside the window Misty could now see the ocean rushing up to meet them. There was only the sound of an explosion before everything went dark.

At a lurch that pulled her back, Misty opened her eyes. At first her senses were so off that all she could see was her hair moving in front of her as if in the wind. As she came too though she realized she was surrounded by water. Looking around she noted the lurch that had awoken her was the front half of the plane breaking off and the back part of it where she sat was making its way down into the depths of the ocean.

Misty looked around and choked. Bodies floating in their seats, trapped by their seat belts, streams of blood wafting up from injuries alarmed Misty that sharks would be in the area soon and that she had to get moving. Keeping her eyes above she fought with her seat belt, her eyes on another passenger that had broken free and was making his way up towards the surface. She watched as the shape grew smaller, then all of a sudden, out of the darkness, a fourteen foot shape shot, and the figure of the man was replaced with a burst of a blood cloud.

Misty closed her eyes and stayed where she was, death now would come to her one way or another no matter what she tried to do. Her only comfort were the two empty seats on either side of her, and her hopes that made death a little easier to bear. If she was not responsible for bringing her friends to their deaths, she could accept her own. She could feel the chain and sapphire around her neck lift and float as she was dragged lower.

Her lungs burned and heart pounded wildly, pressure all around making her feel as if she would be crushed to nothing. Behind closed eyelids there was a flash of blue light, and then all the pain went away.

_'I must be dead.'_ She thought to herself.

"Death at this age is not your destiny." A woman's voice said.

Misty opened her eyes and saw Naru floating in the water in front of her. Though she was still being dragged down, Misty could breathe and was not affected by any other ailments.

_'Then am I to go back to him?_' She thought again.

"Yes and no." Naru answered. "You're destiny is with him, but not as he is, nor you as you are. You are a chosen one, you and he both. You are still needed to fight the evil of Ganondorf, for he is alive and will break free again. You and Link must once again live together and fight against the darkness or the world will be consumed by it forever. Pease, rest now, it shall be as it is meant to be."

Before Misty could ask any more questions three lights blinded her, blue, green, and orange, and then she knew nothing.

When Misty came to she had no idea where she was. She was soaking wet and still in her black pants, heels, and black silk shirt that had dress shirt collar and cuff ends at her elbows. As she pushed herself up on her hands and knees, her once again long hair slide wetly over her shoulder.

"Ho there! Lass are you alright?" Called a voice.

Only then did Misty realize that horses had advanced on her and now one of the riders was helping her to her feet. When she was standing she really took a look around. The world around her was dark, but light at the same time. Slopping grass lands were all that she could really see, so she turned her attention to the man who had helped her up.

He was just as odd as the land itself. Even through his pitch black armour she could tell that he was very fit, and if looks were the same here, not much older then she by the lack of lines on his face. His skin was an odd bluish grey and he had odd ruins along his hands and neck that seemed to glow.

"Are you alright, my lady? My men and I saw you appear in a burst of light and watched as you fell. You must be from the world of light." He said.

Misty just stared but when she tried to answer him, she realized her throat, along with the rest of her, was in a great deal of pain.

"If you cannot speak, don't. Fear not, we will take care of you." The man said and smiled.

Misty flushed at his smile, realizing he was actually very handsome. As he helped her up onto his horse, she also realized that fate was indeed a tricky thing.

**Modern Day Newspaper Clipping**

_After Months of searching, the body of Misty (her last name has not been released)_

_is the only one not yet accounted for. Her two friends, who survived the _

_horrible plane crash last June, are terribly grieved that there is no _

_closer for them. Even though a water side ceremony will take_

_place tomorrow near where the crash occurred to honour the only girl not found_

_her friends remain hopeful she is alive and well somewhere. _

_This is the fifth large accident near the ruins since they have been found_

_and officials are now saying they will shut down the sit and mark _

_it off as a dead zone where no ships or planes may pass. Natives_

_of the area believe that by disturbing the area, the curse_

_that was placed on them has been released. While no government _

_official believe in such matters, they have agreed that to leave_

_the ruins alone is the best course of action._

**

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**

SNEAK PEAK!

**Coming January 2010. This story has not yet been rated; keep on eye on my profile when it comes out to find out the rating. Possible to be rated M for violence later on.**

Link climbed up the final ladder and flopped down. It was another small landing which Link spread blankets onto for his bed. He enjoyed laying there, the very top most window of his house was there and he could see far into the village from the location. With the setting sun beaming its last rays upon his face, Link soon fell into a troubled sleep.

His dream was the same one he had had for the past couple of nights. He stood on a stone bridge over a small river; himself yet not himself. He felt no different than any other day, yet when he looked into the flowing water; it was not his reflection that he saw. He was dressed in white small clothes, green tunic and hat with sturdy brown boots and gauntlets. Smooth blond hair flowed short around his head instead of stuck out like his own brown hair would be. His face was different but his eyes stayed the same.

Just as all the other times, when he was done looking at himself he raised his eyes to the other side of the bridge, a girl stood there. She was dressed in matching clothes to him, though without the hat. Her long brown hair was pulled up in a long pony tail. To Link, she was actually very pretty, her brown eyes mixed with a tint of green and gold, though he couldn't tell what colour dominated, they changed frequently.

As always the girl was crying, yelling at him though no sound could be heard. He wished he could hear her voice, just to know what it sounded like. She was always so upset, he wished he could tell her it was alright, he knew what was coming, but really he would be alright. Every time he tried to speak though, he was forced to turn around by an unseen power, though perhaps not an unseen power.

When he faced the other way, his back to the girl, a large man always stood there. Not large as in overweight, but in height and muscle. This man was always dressed in black, leather armour, a blood red cape flying out behind him though no wind stirred the area. The man had skin as if he spent a lot of time outside in the sun. Flaming, short cropped red hair toped his head, and cold black eyes stared back at Link.

He knew what was going to happen, he knew even without looking that, as the man in front raised his hand, the girl behind him dropped to her knees, covering her face with her hands as she cried. The mans hand seemed to shimmer in purple as he opened his mouth, words as clear as if Link could only hear now for the first time.

"You are mine!"

The purple shimmer would come together in his hand as a ball and shot out, striking Link in the chest, throwing him off the bridge and plunging into the water.

Link sat bolt upright, for once not breathing hard or sweating. As he drew, deep, calm breaths he looked around the room not sure how much time had passed. Fading light still filled the area so he assumed that he had not been asleep for very long.

"Hey! Link! You there?!" Someone shouted from outside.

Link stood up, schooling his features as he looked out and saw his sort of boss, the rancher.

"Hey, you mind helpin' me herd the goats? They ain't listenin' to me lately!" The man shouted up. Link nodded his head and turned from the window, making his way down through his house. As he walked he heard the man shout again. "Hey, where's Epona?" Link sighed as he walked out of his house and down the last ladder.

"I bet I know where she is, hang on a moment." Link turned down the path that lead towards the woods, but he only went as far as the spring closest to the village.


End file.
